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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. 

The mud dauber wasp, Sceliphron caementarium, sporting its "wasp waist." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Who Wants a Wasp Waist?

January 13, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
"Around 250 million years ago, at the start of the Triassic period, a species of insect evolved to have a narrow waist, called a petiole. This adaptation allowed greater flexibility and maneuverability of the ovipositor, the tubular structure on the female's rear used to deposit eggs.
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"Bees being shipped across country stored in trucks or vans are shown to cause more stress," wrote one student on an Entomology 100 term paper that appears on the Bohart Museum of Entomology's 2022 calendar. (Illustration by Kris Merritt)

Bohart Museum of Entomology's 2022 Calendar: Delightful!

January 12, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
The newly published UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology calendar is DCI: delightful, creative and innovative! Bohart Museum director Lynn Kimsey, a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, said the calendar--featuring students' unusual comments on their Entomology 100 term papers and illustr...
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Well, hello there! A jumping spider moves slowly and unobtrusively up a shadowed Vacaville wall on Jan. 2. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Spider, a Shadow, a Hello, and a Goodbye

January 11, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Who doesn't love jumping spiders? They're adorable. No? Well, they are to arthropod enthusiasts, but not so much to their prey. This one (probably a Phidippus audax, a Bold Jumper) was moving slowly and unobtrusively up a shadowed Vacaville stucco wall on the morning of Jan. 2.
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Two's company, three's a crowd? Milkweed bugs on a cactus on Jan. 2, 2022 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Overwintering Milkweed Bugs on the Prowl

January 10, 2022
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Have you seen any overwintering milkweed bugs lately? About a dozen milkweed bugs, Oncopeltus fasciatus, emerged from seclusion Jan. 2, 2022 in our Vacaville garden. The temperature hovered at 32 degrees that morning, but when the sun peeked out, there they were. Mating.
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