Bug Squad

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.

A lady beetle searching for aphids on a rosebud in the winter. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Amazing Lady Beetles

January 6, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you have roses blooming in your yard in the winter--or trying to bloom--check to see if there's a lady beetle, aka ladybug prowling around. Any aphids? A lady beetle can eat as many as 5000 aphids in its lifetime, so they're the good guys and gals in the garden.

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UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal is his way to obtain a COVID-19 saliva test at a UC Davis kiosk. The saliva tests are given, by appointment, to members of the UC Davis and Davis communities. (Photo by Walter Leal)

Mark Your Calendar for This UC Davis Symposium on COVID-19 Tests

January 5, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

(Note: UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal focuses his research on the biochemical and molecular basis of insect olfaction, or how insects perceive the world through the sense of smell. However, he is also heavily involved in public service.) It's not only good news, but great news.

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Allan Jones of Davis captured this image of a black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, on Jan. 6, 2020 in the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. (Photo by Allan Jones)

Searching for the First Bumble Bee of the Year in a Two-County Area

January 4, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Seen any bumble bees lately in Yolo or Solano counties? If so, and if you photograph the first one of the year, you might win the Bohart Museum of Entomology's contest.

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A European wool carder bee, Anthidium manicatum, heads for a snapdragon. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Wonderful World of Insects

January 1, 2021

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Learning more about insects ought to be one of your New Year's resolutions. Here's a good place to start: read the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology's Insect Information Sheets.

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Oops! A Gulf Fritillary, Araulis vanillae, lands near a praying mantis, a female Mantis religiosa, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Year 2020 Felt Like a Close Encounter of the Worst Kind

December 31, 2020

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The year 2020 felt like a close encounter of the worst kind. The raging COVID-19 pandemic, the California wildfires, the political scene, the poverty, the racial uprisings, the stay-at-home mandates, the strife...

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