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 forages on tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, in a Vacaville pollinator garden on July 27. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Bee-Line Toward the Tropical Milkweed

August 27, 2020

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Honey bees just can't get enough of our tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica. We plant three species of milkweed (the host plant for the monarchs), but both the monarchs and the honey bees gravitate toward A. curassavica, a non-native.

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A wall of fire races toward Quail Canyon Road, home of Caroline Yelle's business, Pope Canyon Queens.

The Heartbreaking Story of a Bee Scientist Who Lost Everything

August 26, 2020

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's heartbreaking. Beyond heartbreaking. Caroline Yelle, 28, owner of Pope Canyon Queens (PCQ) at 8307 Quail Canyon Road, Vacaville, lost her business when the lightning-sparked Hennessey Fire, part of the LNU Lightning Complex Fire, swept through rural Vacaville on Aug. 19 from Napa County.

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Honey is the soul of a field of flowers. This image was taken at April 2017 in a field on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Show Me the Honey: Two UC Davis Events

August 25, 2020

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Honey is the soul of a field of flowers. It's also been called "the nectar of the gods." "The bee hive is the ultimate home sweet home," says Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute.

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Fire rages towards Clay's Bees during the Vacaville Fire. (Image courtesy of Paul Kuroda, used with permission)

Clay's Bees: The Bees, They're Gone

August 24, 2020

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The bees, they're gone. Beekeeper Clay Ford, who owns the Pleasants Valley Honey Company, also known as "Clay's Bees," is devastated. The fast-moving Vacaville Fire, part of the LNU Lightning Complex fires, claimed 73 of his 81 beehives. Gone, millions of bees.

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A monarch egg. Soon it will hatch. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Magical, Miraculous Monarch Moments

August 21, 2020

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

When you observe a monarch butterfly laying eggs on your milkweed--and see the predators and parasitoids circling in anticipation--act fast if you want those eggs to develop into adults. Only about 10 percent of monarch eggs make it to adults, scientists estimate.

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