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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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UC Davis chemical ecologist Walter Leal, distinguished professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, has just been named recipient of the UC Davis Academic Senate's Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Students. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Walter Leal: Lighting the Way and Sparking the Fire of Knowledge

February 19, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
"I don't teach because I have to; I teach because it is a joy to light the way and to spark the fire of knowledge." So says noted chemical ecologist Walter Leal, newly selected recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching from the UC Davis Academic Senate.
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Butterflies from Belize are part of the global collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. They are (far right) Blue Morpho, Morpho helenor montezuma; (top left), a leaf mimic, Fountainea eurypyle confusa; and blue hairstreak, Pseudolycaena damao, according to entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepidoptera section. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Diversity of Bugs at Bohart Museum of Entomology

February 14, 2020
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If diversity is the spark of life, then the Bohart Museum of Entomology is fueling that spark into a full flame. The Bohart Museum, home of nearly eight million insect specimens collected worldwide, will be one of the 13 museums or collections open on Saturday, Feb.
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