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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. 

A monarch foraging on Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in the late summer in Vacaville, Calif. Question is: where was this monarch in the early spring? (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Seen Any Western Monarchs Lately?

March 3, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Seen any Western monarch butterflies yet this year? No? Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, has. He spotted one on Jan.
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A male carpenter bee, Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex, on a geranium in Vacaville, Calif., on Feb. 27, 2020. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Meet the Mountain Boy

March 2, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
I call him the Mountain Boy. A male carpenter bee, Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex, appeared in our pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif.,on Feb. 27, the earliest we've seen this species. It's the smallest of California's carpenter bees and is often called the foothill or mountain carpenter bee.
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