Bug Squad

A daily (M-F) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008 and about the wonderful world of insects and those who study them. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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A cluster of monarchs overwintering in an 80-foot-high eucalyptus tree at the Natural Bridges State Park, Santa Cruz, on Nov. 14, 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Monarch Population May Be 'Fluttering Back'

November 18, 2021
Let the count begin! Researchers and volunteers in a three-week project headed by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation are now counting the Western monarch population at overwintering sites along the California coast. It all began Saturday.
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UC Davis doctoral student Danielle Rutkowski--framed--as the winner of a President's Prize at the Entomological Society of America meeting. (Photo by Entomological Society of America/Photography G)

They Were Framed...Picture Perfect!

November 15, 2021
When the Entomological Society of America honored its President's Prize winners at its recent meeting in Denver, it did so "picture perfect." At the awards podium, each winning graduate student held up an empty frame lettered with "Student Competition Winner." And filled the frame.
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A potato bug, aka Jerusalem cricket, at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato...Four

November 12, 2021
One potato, two potato, three potato...four... Well, make that "one potato bug, two potato bugs, three potato bugs...four." The potato bug, also known as a Jerusalem cricket, seems to be everywhere in the Bay Area after the heavy rains.
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