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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 yellow-faced bumble bees, Bombus vosnesenskii, heads for Phacelia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Bumble Bee Ballet

April 1, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ever watched a bumble bee ballet? Bumble bees may look clumsy in flight, but they get the job done. We recently marveled at the yellow-faced bumble bees, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging on lacy phacelia, Phacelia tanacetifolia, on the UC Davis campus. This is a native bumble bee and a native plant.
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An infestation of cottony cushion scale on Nandina (Nandina domestica). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Don't Cotton to This Pest

March 31, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It sucks sap, it secretes honeydew, and it draws ants. And curious photographers. Last weekend we spotted cottony cushion scale, Icerya purchasi, infesting the twigs and branches of our Nandina (Nandina domestica), planted 22 years ago.
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These are Ishai Zeldner's bee boxes in The Hive, Woodland. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Beekeeper

March 30, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ishai Zeldner, a beekeeper turned businessman, would have been proud. Zeldner, who died in 2018 at age 71, would have been proud to see the family business he founded, Z Specialty Food, develop into a 20,000 square-foot facility at 1221 Harter Way, Woodland. It was his dream.
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