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Bug Squad

Bug Squad blog image depicts a honey bee sting in action.

Welcome to the Bug Squad blog! The Bug Squad blog was launched Aug. 6, 2008 and is a daily blog (Monday through Friday). It showcases entomologists and the work they do.  The blog focuses on scientists in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, the Bohart Museum of Entomology, Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, the UC Davis Bee Haven, and assorted campuswide events, including UC Davis Picnic Day, UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, and Bohart Museum open houses. The blog spotlights insects, including bees, butterflies, dragonflies, and praying mantises, as well as arachnids such as jumping spiders and crab spiders. Author and photographer is Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and a longtime journalist and community scientist with two degrees from Washington State University.  She is a member of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) and the Association for Communication Excellence (ACE). Her blog posts and images have won international awards from ACE and ESA and appeared on journal and magazine covers. She shoots primarily with a Nikon Z-8 mirrorless camera, a Nikon D500 and Nikon 800, with assorted macro lenses. Feedspot lists it as one of the top entomology blogs on the Internet. 

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A syrphid fly foraging on a mellow yellow blanket flower, Gaillardia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

To Be a Fly on Friday, What a Day!

September 16, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
To be a fly on Friday, what a day! Entomologists who came up with "Friday Fly Day" are having a lot of fun posting images on social media of flies on Friday. If you access WikiHow, "What to Do on a Friday Night," you'll find all kinds of suggestions.
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Find the monarch! A monarch stopped to nectar in a Mexican petunia patch Sept. 15 in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Why the Petunia Patch Reigned Supreme Today

September 15, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
All year long, we've been waiting for those majestic monarchs to visit our pollinator garden in Vacaville, as they have in the past 10 years or so. One year (2020), they deposited more than 300 eggs on our milkweed. But this year? Zero. Zilch. Nada. Where are you? Dawn. Noon. Dusk.
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A male European wool carder bee, Anthidium manicatum, rests on an African blue basil leaf in the early morning. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

European Wool Carder Bees: 'The End Is Near'

September 14, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's almost the end of the season for the European wool carder bee, Anthidium manicatum. A few still hang around the foxgloves, the catmint and the African blue basil in our pollinator garden.
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