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.

Tour leader Dylan Winkler, bumble bee scientific aide for the CDFWs Wildlife Diversity Program, checks out a bumble bee species. At left is UC Davis doctoral entomology candidate Daniele Rutkowski. (Photo by Cindy McReynolds)

California Bumble Bee Atlas: What Citizens Found on a UC Davis Bumble Bee Walk

June 3, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

A recent two-hour Bumble Bee Walk," sponsored by the California Bumble Bee Atlas in the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, proved fruitful.

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A European wool carder bee in flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

European Wool Carder Bees Are on the Move

June 2, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Seen any European wool carder bees lately? European wool carder bees (so named because the female collects or cards plant hairs for their nests) are on the move. The bees, about the size of honey bees, are mostly black and yellow.

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A sulphur butterfly, Colias eurytheme, and a honey bee, Apis mellifera, meet on lavender. The butterfly is a male, as identified by Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Bee and the Butterfly

June 1, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The bee and the butterfly. Or, Apis mellifera and Colias eurytheme. One's a beneficial insect. That would "bee" the honey bee. The other is a yellow and white butterfly, striking in appearance, but in its larval stage, it's a major pest of alfalfa.

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Cooperative Extension specialist Ian Grettenberger (far right) of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology leans over to talk to a visitor. In back are postdoctoral fellow Buddi Achhami (right) of the Grettenberger lab and UC Davis undergraduate student Omri Livneh. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Visitors Marvel at Tadpole Shrimp at Bohart Museum Open House

May 31, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

They marveled at the tadpole shrimp. They crafted tadpole shrimp-themed hats and puppets using paper plates and googly eyes. And they asked questions. Lots of questions.

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A male valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa sonorina, engaging in nectar robbing; he's sipping nectar through a hole in the base of a foxglove blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

How a 'Bear' Can Outsmart a Fox

May 30, 2022

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

There's a way for a bear to outsmart a fox. A teddy bear bee, that is. We just witnessed a male Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa sonorina, aka "the teddy bear bee," buzz up to a patch of foxgloves, Digitalis purpurea. Then he engaged in the foraging behavior known as nectar-robbing.

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