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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. 

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Christine Melvin's art work, transformed into a banner for the Bohart Museum of Entomology's 75th anniversary, features a hover fly, sphecid wasp, snake fly, bumble bee, aphid, twisted wing parasite and a tardigrade (water bear).

Bohart Museum of Entomology Banner Draws Praise

October 27, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
A newly created, unveiled banner for the Bohart Museum of Entomology's 75th anniversary drew "oohs" and "aahs" when the Bohart Museum Society hosted a Halloween party last Saturday on the UC Davis campus.
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A scanning electron micrograph of a nematode, a Steinernema carpocapsae, spitting venom. (Image by Adler Dillman)

These Microscopic Parasitic Nematodes or Round Worms Spit Venom

October 26, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Who knew? Who knew that you, along with billions of other people, could be infected with undetected microscopic parasitic nematodes, or round worms? And that they spit venom? Parasitologist Adler Dillman of UC Riverside knows. In fact, he recently received a $1.
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Jason Bond, new associate dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Congrats to Newly Appointed Associate Dean Jason Bond!

October 25, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Congratulations to Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology! The multi-talented professor, researcher, teacher and editor--with a deep background in administration--is the newly appointed Associate Dean for Research and Outr...
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