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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. 

The male flameskimmer dragonfly (Libellula saturata) is firecracker red. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Like a Lens to a Flame

June 1, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's a delight to see the flameskimmer dragonfly (Libellula saturata). This male made its appearance in our Vacaville pollinator garden on May 17, and hung around long enough for me to capture several images. Like a lens to a flame...
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A monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, flutters on the American flag. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Flying High, Flying Free

May 31, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
An American flag flies from its sky-high pole at our home year-around. A U.S. Air Force veteran lives here, and the survivors of generations of veterans, starting with the American Revolution, live here.
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A territorial bee, a male Melissodes agilis, confronts a monarch butterfly in a Vacaville, Calif. pollinator garden. The prize relinquished: a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Tiff on the Tithonia

May 27, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It was July 3, 2020. The male bees, Melissodes agilis, were getting quite territorial. Every time a butterfly, a honey bee or another insect in our family's pollinator garden expressed an interest in foraging on the Mexican sunflowers, Tithonia rotundifola, a male Melissodes buzzed them.
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