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. Feedspot lists it as one of the top entomology blogs on the Internet.

A honey bee frantically struggles to escape from a reproductive chamber of a milkweed blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey

Hey, Wait, Take Me With You!

October 18, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Hey, wait, take me with you! No, leave me alone! Let me go! Have you ever seen insects struggling to free themselves from the reproductive chamber of a milkweed blossom?

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An illustration from the seminar of postdoctoral fellow Sergio Hidalgo Sotelo of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

UC Davis Seminar: Fly Research Could Provide Some Answers on Schizophrenia Disorder

October 15, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that affects less than one percent of the U.S. population. When schizophrenia is active, symptoms can include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, trouble with thinking and lack of motivation.

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Entomologist Elvira Lange utilizing a drone. Agricultural drones, she said, are "highly versatile and have great commercial potential."

Outstanding Research Paper on Agricultural Drones Wins Editors' Choice Award

October 14, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Winning an Editors' Choice Award was a milestone for an international research team, including UC Davis entomologist Elvira de Lange. De Lange assembled a project team that wrote a research paper on the agricultural use of drones, published last February in the Journal of Economic Entomology (JEE).

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Frank Zalom, UC Davis distinguished professor and a past president of the Entomological Society of America, is a newly elected Honorary Member of the Entomological Society of America, the highest honor afforded an ESA member. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

'Entomological Giant' Frank Zalom Receives Highest ESA Honor

October 13, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

He's a giant in his field--a veritable Sequoia in the flatlands. But he's an entomologist with an incredible reach that extends in practically all corners of the insect science world.

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Jason Bond,professor of entomology and the Evert and Marion Schlinger endowed chair in insect systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is a newly selected co-editor-in-chief of the journal Insect Systematics and Diversity (ISD), published by the Entomological Society of America (ESA). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Congrats to UC Davis Professor Jason Bond: Co-Editor-In-Chief of an ESA Journal

October 12, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The Department of Entomology and Nematology at the University of California, Davis, is in the news today, and what wonderful, exciting news! Jason Bond, UC Davis professor of entomology and the Evert and Marion Schlinger endowed chair in insect systematics is a newly selected co-editor-in-chief of t...

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