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 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

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

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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The Asian giant hornet measures a little less than two inches long. A nest was recently discovered and destroyed near Blaine, Wash. (Photo courtesy of the Washington Department of Agriculture)

Good News on the Asian-Giant-Hornet News Front

October 27, 2020

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

California this year has faced the COVID-19 pandemic, disastrous wildfires, racial unrest, and political strife--a combination resulting in undue stress and overall fatigue.

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Chemical ecologist Anjel Helms of Texas A&M

Chemical Ecologist to Speak at UC Davis on 'The Smells of Dinner, Death, and Danger'

October 26, 2020

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The title is intriguing: "The Smells of Dinner, Death, and Danger: How Organisms Navigate Multitrophic Interactions in a Chemical World." Chemical ecologist Anjel Helms of Texas A&M University will share information on that topic from 4:10 to 5 p.m., Wednesday, Oct.

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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

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

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

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

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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