Bug Squad

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 syrphid fly foraging on a tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's Friday Fly Day!

August 12, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's Friday Fly Day! And what better day than a Friday to post an image of a syrphid fly nectaring on a tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii? We all need "pretty" in our lives.

View Article

In this image, you can see two bees on the African blue basil. But can you find the praying mantis? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Find the Praying Mantis in the African Blue Basil

August 11, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Honey bees absolutely love African blue basil. If there ever were a "bee magnet," this plant is it.

View Article

Adrienne R. Shapiro of Davis captured this image of a nesting European paper wasps in the mouth of a garden frog statue in a Davis neighborhood. (Photo courtesy of Adrienne R. Shapiro)

Ever Seen a Wasp Colony in a Frog's Mouth?

August 10, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

In real life, frogs eat flies, mosquitoes, bees, wasps and other insects. But have you ever seen a frog's mouth filled with an entire European wasp colony? No? Check this out! On Aug. 8, sharp-eyed Adrienne R.

View Article

Petaluma beekeeper Ettamarie Peterson holds some newly emerged bees at a Randy Oliver demonstration at the 2007 Western Apicultural Society tour of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Meet Ettamarie Peterson: Sonoma's Queen Bee and 4-H Beekeeping Queen

August 9, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

When 4-H beekeeping project leader Ettamarie Peterson of the Liberty 4-H Club, Petaluma, meets with her youth group at the beginning of the 4-H year, she tells them NOT to buy bees, equipment or bee suits. It's NOT because they're unnecessary. She supplies them.

View Article

This damselfly appears framed "in the red" (a red vehicle light). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Damselflies: Long, Slender and Delicate

August 8, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you like your insects long, slender and delicate, and resembling a flying neon needle, the damselfly is for you. Who can resist watching them and photographing them? The common blue damselfly or Northern Bluet (Enallagma cyathigerum) is as thin as a needle, a jeweled blue needle.

View Article