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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. 

Signs of a predator. A tattered Buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia, sipping nectar from a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Buckeye Butterfly: Wanna Piece of Me?

October 14, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Wanna piece of me? "Hey, Buckeye butterfly, you over there with chunks of a wing missing, yeah you, what happened?" "Well, it was like this. I was just fluttering around, looking for some good nectar, and a predator grabbed me. I don't know what it was. Maybe it was a praying mantis.
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The view from Gates Canyon Road on Sept. 25, 2020, following the Aug. 19th wildfire. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Rising from the Ashes--Some Day

October 13, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Note: We asked butterfly expert Arthur "Art" Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, to comment on the effect of the California wildfires on butterflies and their habitat.
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Gulf Fritillaries flutter over a praying mantis, Mantis religiosa, in a passionflower patch in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Will a Praying Mantis Eat a Caterpillar?

October 12, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Will a praying mantis eat a caterpillar? Short answer: Yes. For several days, we've been watching a resident praying mantis, a female Mantis religiosa, hanging out in our patch of Passiflora (passionflower), the host plant of the Gulf Fritillary butterfly, Agraulis vanillae.
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Global change ecologist Amanda Koltz, a senior scientist with the Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, will present a virtual seminar, hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology, on Oct. 14.

Amanda Koltz Seminar: Species Interactions and Global Change

October 9, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
"It's important to consider species interactions in efforts to understand ecosystem responses to global change." So says global change ecologist Amanda Koltz, a senior scientist with the Department of Biology, Washington University, St.
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