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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. 

California dogface butterfly expert Greg Kareofelas (far left) chats with Rob Stewart of the PBS program, "Rob on the Road."

Meet 'The Dogface Butterfly Guy'

August 27, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Meet "The Dogface Butterfly Guy." Naturalist Greg Kareofelas, an associate of the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology and an expert on the California state insect, the dogface butterfly, appeared several years ago on a segment of the PBS program, "Rob on the Road.
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UC Davis doctoral alumnus Jessica Gillung, now on the faculty of McGill University, is the winner of the Entomological Society of America's International Branch Early Career and Leadership Award.

Jessica Gillung: Absolute Dynamo

August 26, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Congratulations, Jessica Gillung! What an absolute dynamo! Gillung, an evolutionary biologist who received her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 2018 and is now on the faculty of McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is the newly announced recipient of the Entomological Society of Amer...
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The late Robbin Thorp, UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor, kept his image of Franklin's bumble bee as his screensaver image on his computer. He last saw the bee in 2006 at Mt. Ashland, and was the last known person to see the pollinator. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Robbin Thorp Would Have Been Proud

August 25, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
The late Robbin Thorp, UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor and a tireless advocate of pollinator species protection and conservation, would have been proud.
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A female praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, peers at the photographer in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Oh, To Be a Praying Mantis...

August 24, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Oh, to be a praying mantis, and hide among the flowers waiting for prey. On a warm sunny morning in Vacaville, Calif., this female Stagmomantis limbata positioned herself in a patch of Mexican sunflowers, Tithonia rotundifola.
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