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

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Exotic cockroaches, from Bohart Museum of Entomology

A New Cockroach in Town?

December 30, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 A new cockroach in town?That's what a UC Davis retired professor thought on Tuesday, Dec. 23 when he spotted an unusual cockroach emerging from his shower drain at his Davis home.He said he "recognized  it as unusual and caught it. It was a male Turkestan cockroach, Blatta lateralis, a species…
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Cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

On the Hunt for the First Cabbage White Butterfly...Suds for a Bug!

December 29, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Suds for a bug. A butterfly for a beer...If you find and collect the first cabbage white butterfly in the three-county area of Sacramento, Yolo and Solano, and you are judged the winner of the annual "Beer for a Butterfly" Contest, you will receive a pitcher of beer or its equivalent.And bragging…
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Bombus melanopygus on a pansy. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bohart Museum Contest: Let's Bumble!

December 26, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Don't tumble, fumble or crumble when you see a "bumble."Hold your camera steady. Starting Jan. 1, if you photograph or video a bumble bee in the two-county area of Solano and Yolo, and if you're judged the winner, you will win the sixth annual Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble Bee-of-the-Year…
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Santa Claus (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Santa Sleighed Us

December 24, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Santa sleighed us.The jolly ol' man parked his reindeer on our roof on Christmas Eve, slipped down the chimney, and what to his wondering eyes should appear--but a very territorial tuxedo cat named Miss Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout that hissed at him.Santa eyed the cat and the brass grasshopper ornaments…
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