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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 female praying mantis, Mantis religiosa, crawls over a passionflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Passion Is Where You Find It

October 21, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Those passion flowers (Passiflora) are insect magnets. One minute you'll see a praying mantis on a blossom. The next minute, a Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae. And the next morning, the blossom is an arthropod magnet--the beginnings of a spider web.
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The larvae of the alfalfa butterfly are major pests of alfalfa. This butterfly is sipping nectar from a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Good, the Bad and the Bugly

October 20, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
The good, the bad, and the bugly... Don't miss the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology virtual open house on alfalfa and rice from 11 a.m. to noon on Thursday, Oct. 22.
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A common green bottle fly, Lucilia sericata, seeking nectar on a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

On the Fly

October 16, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Flies seem to be in the news a lot lately.
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