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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 digger bee, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, returning to her nest on the sand cliffs of Bodega Bay. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Bees of Bodega Head

July 1, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
There's more to Sonoma County's Bodega Head than the stunning views, crashing waves, nesting seabirds, and bursts of flora and fauna. The sand cliffs are also the home of a digger bee, a bumble bee mimic known as Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana.
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A praying mantis nymph, Stagmomantis limbata, spreads out across a sunflower blossom in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

What's for Dinner? Drama on a Sunflower Blossom

June 30, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
What's for dinner? If you're a praying mantis nymph, Stagmomantis limbata, perched on a sunflower, sometimes it can be a long wait. Breakfast fades into lunch, lunch fades into dinner... First you scout out your territory and spread out (hey, look at me)!.
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Peek a bee! A honey bee forages on tropical milkweed blossoms while a monarch caterpillar chows down. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Love at First Bite, Love at First Sip

June 26, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Picture this during National Pollinator Week: five monarch caterpillars and assorted honey bees sharing tropical milkweed. It was love at first bite. Or love at first sip. The 'cats kept munching and the bees kept foraging. Neither species seemed interested in the other.
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A honey bee struggles to fit inside a strawberry blossom. In the bee world, one size fits all.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Come on In--the Pollen's Fine

June 25, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
She didn't know it was National Pollinator Week. If she had, she would have paid it no mind. She just knew that this was some fine pollen as she struggled to fit inside the strawberry blossom. The honey bee, Apis mellifera, is like that: determined, decisive, and mission-bound.
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