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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. 

A cuckoo bee, Xeromelecta californica, rests on a leaf in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Ever Seen a Cuckoo Bee?

September 3, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ever seen a cuckoo bee? They're also called parasitic bees or "kleptoparasites" or "cleptoparasitises." They cannot carry pollen (no apparatus) and do not construct their nests. They lay their eggs in the nests of their hosts and then eat the food meant for the hosts.
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This monarch caterpillar was reared from an egg collected on a tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Welcome to the World of Monarchs, Greta!

September 1, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Welcome to the world of monarchs, Greta! We don't normally name the monarch butterflies we rear, but we decided that the first one reared from an egg "The Greg Way" would be named for Greg--naturalist Greg Kareofelas, associate at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis.
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Caroline Yelle, owner of Pope Canyon Queens, lost some 500 hives during the Aug. 19 Vacaville fire. (Photo by Caroline Yelle)

What Do Honey Bee Colonies Do During a Raging Wildfire?

August 31, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
What do honey bee colonies do when a raging wildfire heads straight toward their hives (bee boxes)? No, the bees do not abscond with their queen and relocate, says Norman Gary, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis.
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The sulphur or alfalfa butterfly, (Colias eurytheme) is widespread now in Solano, Yolo and Sacramento counties and is the biggest invasion in 20 or 30 years, says Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

A Butterfly Invasion in Yolo, Solano and Sacramento Counties

August 28, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you think there's a butterfly invasion in the three-county area of Yolo, Solano and Sacramento, wait until you hear what Art Shapiro, distinguished professor evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, says about that.
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