Bug Squad

A daily (M-F) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008 and about the wonderful world of insects and those who study them. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch butterfly sips nectar from a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in front of a bird, decorative art. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Butterfly and the Bird

October 1, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
A monarch butterfly fluttered into our pollinator garden in Vacaville yesterday and sipped nectar from a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) as a bird looked on. Well, sort of looked on. The bird was decorative art. The monarch was real. Now if that bird had been real, the monarch may have been a meal.
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Adult Caenorhabditis elegans. Wikipedia describes it as "a free-living, transparent nematode, about 1mm in length, that lives in temperature soil environments." (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

Plant Nematologist Nathan Schroeder: 'Endless Worms Most Beautiful'

September 30, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you're interested in nematodes--also called "roundworms"--then you'll want to be around when plant nematologist Nathan Schroeder, associate professor of crop sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, presents a seminar on Wednesday, Oct.
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Two monarchs arrived today at a pollinator garden in Vacaville to sip nectar from a patch of Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

A Monarch Kind of Day

September 27, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Today was a Monarch Kind of Day...in Vacaville. When Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, searched for butterfly species today at one of his field sites--Gates Canyon in Vacaville--he spotted not one, but two monarchs.
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The parts of a honey bee include the head, thorax and abdomen. A class on "Advanced Anatomy and Physiology of the Honey Bee" takes place Oct. 19 at UC Davis, and is offered by the UC Davis-based California Master Beekeeper Program. This image was taken in Vacaville of a bee heading toward a tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Learn About Honey Bee Anatomy at UC Davis Class

September 25, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Consider the honey bee. Like all insects, it has a head, thorax and abdomen. But are you familiar with the rest of its anatomy? Here's an opportunity to learn about "Advanced Anatomy and Physiology of the Honey Bee" in a class offered Saturday, Oct.
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