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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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Entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera section at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, answers questions from UC Biodiversity Museum Day visitors. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

February Is UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month!

January 27, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
The 10th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, a science-based day celebrating the diversity of life, will sport a new look and a longer life this year. It won't be a single day for you to visit all the museums and collections on campus and talk to the scientists.
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Eric Conn, a noted plant biochemist, nurtured the UC Davis Arborteum’s acacias for scientific as well as aesthetic reasons. He died in 2017 at age 94. (UC Davis Photo)

UCD vs. UCD Biochemistry Games Set--Davis and Dublin

January 26, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
What a novel idea! UCD vs. UCD! One is the University of California, Davis, or UCD. The other: University College Dublin, or UCD. Just add "UCD vs. UCD Biochemistry Games," and you get a friendly global rivalry between undergraduate biochemistry students at the two universities.
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Bernie Sanders in front of the Bohart Museum of Entomology on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus.

Bernie Sanders Really Did Visit UC Davis

January 22, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
As a presidential candidate, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders visited the UC Davis campus in 2016. He's back--not as a presidential candidate but as a meme. A meme? It all started when photographer Brendan Smialowski for Getty Images photographed him at President Joe Biden's inauguration.
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Red admiral, Vanessa atalanta. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

In Search of Butterflies

January 21, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Oh, to find a butterfly in January. Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, knows where they are. As mentioned in a previous Bug Squad blog, he spotted a cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, on Jan.
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