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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. Feedspot lists it as one of the top entomology blogs on the Internet. 

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A native bee, Megachile fidelis, foraging on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Conservation Biologist Shalene Jha and Her Passion

February 2, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
"About 90 percent of all bees are actually solitary. So despite kind of the public impression that all bees are like honey bees and bumble bees, we have a lot of these bees that are living on their own.
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A honey bee loading up on mustard pollen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's All About the Birds and the Bees and the Flowers and the...

February 1, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's all about the birds and the bees and the flowers and the... Think birds and bats, honey bees and hornets, butterflies and beetles, and the flowers they pollinate. Think yeast cultures and cougars, and nematodes and nightingales, and lions and ladybugs.
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An almond blossom graces an area near the Benicia marina on Jan. 23, 2021. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Hear That Buzz? Almond Pollination Season Is Approaching

January 29, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Hear that buzz? California almond pollination season is approaching. The season usually begins around Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, but we usually see the first-of-the-year almond blooms in mid-January in a hot spot near the Benicia marina. That's where we saw them on Jan.
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A monarch caterpillar on a milkweed leaf on Jan. 23 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Surprise! A Monarch Caterpillar in C-O-L-D January

January 28, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
"What are YOU doing here?" It was Saturday morning, Jan. 23, and the monarch caterpillar seemed to be sunning itself on a milkweed leaf in our family's pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif., a Solano County city situated between San Francisco and Sacramento. Yes, Saturday, Jan. 23.
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