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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. 

This tiny moth, which appears to be a Cadra figulilella, the raisin moth, rests on a petal of a Mexican sunflower in a Vacaville pollinator garden during National Pollinator Week. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

If Cinderella Were a Moth...

July 23, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If Cinderella were a moth, what species would she be? Maybe this tiny, shimmering one. When we spotted this visitor during National Moth Week on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in our pollinator garden, we asked our Bohart Museum of Entomology associates for identification.
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Jessica Gillung, then a doctoral candidate at UC Davis, holds a display of Atlas moths at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. She is now an assistant professor McGill University, Montreal. This week is National Moth Week. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

In Celebration of National Moth Week

July 19, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's National Moth Week, which, according to the officials, is a time to celebrate "the beauty, life cycle and habitats of moths." So "moth-ers" of all ages and abilities "are encouraged to learn about, observe and document moths in their backyards, parks and neighborhoods.
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