Bug Squad

A daily (M-F) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008 and about the wonderful world of insects and those who study them. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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A honey bee foraging on ice plant along Doran Beach, Bodega Bay. Both the bee and the plant are non-native. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Wanted and Unwanted

October 28, 2020
If you vacationed at Doran Regional Beach, Bodega Bay, on a Wednesday last year (pre-COVID-19 pandemic), chances are you saw scores of dedicated volunteers pulling out the invasive ice plant, Carpobrotus edulis, along 201 Doran Beach Road. It's hard work but it's rewarding.
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Professor Diane Ullman of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology is a co-author of the publication on the Western flower thrips. This image was taken when she was doing research in France.

Congrats to the Thrips Team!

October 23, 2020
Congratulations to the international team of scientists, including UC Davis entomologist and co-author Diane Ullman, on their publication involving the genome analysis of the western flower thrips, an invasive global agricultural pest that feeds on plants and is considered a supervector, spreading p...
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A monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, nectaring on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Take a Bug Break--and Bring Along This Book

October 22, 2020
Don't take a coffee break. Take a bug break. Step into your garden, walk over to a community park, or hike in the wilderness and see what's out there. And take along the newly published, newly revised "The Field Guide to California Insects." It includes more than 600 insect species.
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