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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. 

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Michael Hoffmann sharing his expertise on climate change.

Entomologist Michael Hoffmann: Our Distinguished Alumnus

March 11, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Congratulations to noted entomologist Michael Hoffmann, an emeritus professor at Cornell University, for his selection as the 2020 Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumnus Award, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
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This is a banded-wing grasshopper, family Acrididae. This image was taken in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Mary Salcedo: About Those Insect Wings...

March 10, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Have you ever marveled at the wings of a grasshopper? Postdoctoral research fellow and insect biomechanist Mary Salcedo of Virginia Tech has. She studies insect wings.
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The Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven's
"Miss Bee Haven" sculpture is the most photographed bee in the garden. Children love to touch it and climb it. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Look at 'Miss Bee Haven'

March 6, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you've ever visited the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, you've seen it--the six-foot long ceramic-mosaic sculpture of a worker bee. Titled "Miss Bee Haven," it anchors the half-acre bee garden, which was installed in the fall of 2009 and named for its primary donor.
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A honey bee pollinating an almond tree on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

California's Almond Pollination Season: Just Buzzin'

March 5, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Did you hear that buzz in California's almond orchards? It takes about two colonies per acre to pollinate California's 1.2 million acres of almonds. That's about 2.5 million bee colonies trucked here from throughout the country.
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