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.

Honey bee geneticist Robert E. Page Jr. examines a swarm.

Honey Bee Geneticist Rob Page and His 30-Years of Research: Getting From There From Here

August 6, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you're a honey bee geneticist and you're asked to highlight your three-decade scientific career, how do you start? Societies to genes? And how do you get from there to here? Noted honey bee geneticist Robert E. Page Jr.

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The free international symposium, “Insect Olfaction and Taste in 24 Hours Around the Globe,” begins at 9 a.m, Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), Wednesday, Aug. 11.

Olfaction and Taste Symposium: Learn About Honey Bees, Mosquitoes, Butterflies, Fruit Flies and More...

August 5, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Honey bees, mosquitoes, cabbage butterflies, fruit flies and more... You'll hear about a variety of insects when the international symposium, Insect Olfaction and Taste in 24 Hours Around the Globe, takes place beginning at 9 a.m., Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), Wednesday, Aug. 11.

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A Gulf Fritillary caterpillar on a passionflower (Passiflora) leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Do You Have 'Cats?

August 4, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you have a passionflower vine (Passiflora), you probably have cats. No, not the four-legged ones that meow, chase mice or cavort with catnip. These 'cats or caterpillars are part of the life cycle of the Gulf Fritillary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae) and Passiflora is their host plant.

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Scholar, writer, biologist and educator Robert Michael Pyle visiting the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology lepidoptera collection in July of 2019. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Robert Michael Pyle: The Face of Insect Conservation

August 3, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Robert Michael Pyle, founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, was right at home at the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology back in July of 2019, when he and other members of the international Lepidopterists' Society toured the insect museum as part of their 68th annual meeting.

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This UC Davis 1993 image shows doctoral students Kelli Hoover (foreground), Bryony Bonning and Bill McCutcheon with their major professor, Sean Duffey, 1943-1997. Duffey, vice chair of the Department of Entomology, died May 21, 1997 of an embolism from undiagnosed lung cancer.

Kelli Hoover: Born in Texas, Raised in California, Schooled in Insects

August 2, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Born in Lubbock, Texas, raised in the south San Francisco area, and schooled in insects. That was just the beginning of what would unfold into an outstanding entomological career.

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