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 honey bee heading toward a tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bugs and Bees, Bees and Bugs

September 20, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Bugs and bees. Bees and bugs. That's what's on the menu--or that's what's buzzing--over the next few weeks in the Davis/Berkeley area. Bugs. Saturday, Sept.

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Yes, milkweed bugs feed on oleander aphids. This is a large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) with an aphid. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Will Milkweed Bugs Eat Aphids?

September 19, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Yes, they will! Milkweed bugs gained the nickname of "seed eaters" for primarily eating the seeds of milkweed. Actually, they are opportunistic and generalists, says Hugh Dingle, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis.

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Make a meal out of mealworms? Danielle Wishon baked these mealworm cookies. Yes, they were good. (Photo by Danielle Wishon)

Bohart Museum: The Joy of Eating...Drum Roll...Insects

September 18, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you want to know what it's like to eat a bugdoesn't everybody?--ask an entomologist, a bug ambassador, or an entomophagist, one who eats insects. So we didBecause the Bohart Museum of Entomology is hosting an open house on entomophagy from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept.

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A crab spider nails a honey bee while another honey bee watches. This image, on bluebeard, Caryopteris x clandonensis, was taken in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Zeroing in on the Deadly Game Between Honey Bees and Their Predators

September 17, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you're around honey bees, you've seen their predators: crab spiders, orb weavers, praying mantids, birds and more. It's a tough world out there for pollinators.

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Biologist Iris Bright checks out a red earthworm, one of the items available for sampling at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house on Sept. 21. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This Bug's for You! Enjoy Tasty Bugs at the Bohart Museum Open House

September 16, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Ever eaten a bug? Sure you have. Insect fragments are in just about all the foods we eat, from chocolate to coffee to wheat flour to pizza sauce to beer and more. An insect control company estimates that we eat, on the average, 140,000 "bug bits" every year. (See Business Insider.

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