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.

Artist Lisa Rico painted this photo of lavender and bees for the Vacaville Fire Art Project she founded. It's titled "Making Honey" and was purchased by Andrea Hofmann-Miller. Among fire victims were beekeepers and Girl on the Hill Boutique Vineyard and Lavender.

Beekeepers Among Those Benefiting from Vacaville Fire Art Project

September 25, 2020

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Some lost everything: Their homes, their barns, their farm animals, their bees, their livelihoods. The recent wildfire that roared through rural Vacaville, reaching the outer edges of the city, seared the souls of the victims but what's happening now is warming their hearts.

View Article

Monarch eggs are usually one to a leaf, but sometimes Mama Monarch deposits multiple eggs on a single leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Of Monarch Eggs, Ladybug Eggs and Oleander Aphids

September 24, 2020

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

So you're growing milkweed for the first time--or found some milkweed--and you're trying to figure out how to identify a monarch egg. Monarchs lay their eggs on the underside of milkweed leaves--generally--but we've seen them on stems and on the leaf edges.

View Article

Lepidopterist Robert "Bob" Michael Pyle searches through the drawers of butterfly specimens at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Robert Michael Pyle, Butterflies and The Dark Divide

September 23, 2020

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Butterfly expert Robert "Bob" Michael Pyle, founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, is not only a national award-winning author, a teacher, a public speaker and a conservationist--but now he's on screen. Well, sort of "on screen.

View Article

This the cover of second-grader Greg Kareofelas booklet on monarchs. He now serves as an associate at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, and as a tour guide for non-profit organizations.

Why We Need to Teach Science in Elementary School

September 22, 2020

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Two adults, apparently not science aficionados, recently asked me: "What is entomology?" Quick answer: insect science. "What is a monarch?" Quick answer: An orange and black butterfly that's the icon of the butterfly world. Science.

View Article

The Egg: Greg Kareofelas collected this egg from a narrowleaf milkweed in his Davis yard on Aug. 25. (Photo by Greg Kareofelas)

A Monarch Named Ruth

September 21, 2020

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

When a monarch butterfly fluttered into the Davis garden of naturalist Greg Kareofelas and laid an egg on his narrowleaf milkweed, it marked the beginning of a story that ended with the flight of Ruth.

View Article