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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. 

A robber fly peers at the camera. This is Mallophora sp., as identified by robber (assassin) fly expert Charlotte H. E. Alberts, a UC Davis doctoral candidate who studies these insects. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

If It's Friday, It Must Be...

August 19, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If it's Friday, it must be Friday Fly Day. The calendar crawls slowly sometime, but its numbers do not lie. It's Friday Fly Day, all right, which means it's a good day to post an image of a fly, this time a robber fly.
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Green legs of this male praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, are camouflaged in this patch of African blue basil. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Green Legs and Bam!

August 17, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Have you ever seen a green-legged praying mantis on a green leaf? Praying mantis expert Lohitashwa "Lohit" Garikipati, identified this species as a subadult male, Stagmomantis limbata, perched in a patch of African blue basil in our family's pollinator garden.
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A honey bee packing pollen on a UC Davis almond tree. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Registration Now Underway for Almond Board of California Conerence

August 16, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Almond Board of California (ABC) just announced that registration is now underway for its 50th annual Almond Conference, set Dec. 6-8 at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center in downtown Sacramento. It's a gathering of folks from both the almond and bee industries and beyond.
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Native bees foraging on capeweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Foraging on Capeweed

August 15, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Honey bees and native bees love capeweed, Arctotheca calendula, also called South African capeweed, cape dandelion and cape marigold or cape gold.
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