Bug Squad

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.

Honey doesn't come from a jar you buy in a store; it comes from a frame. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey, I Hardly Know Ya! (But I Will)

October 30, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

You can travel to China, Thailand, Madagascar and Brazil to taste rare, international honeys. Or you can do taste, discuss and analyze that honey during the Sensory Evaluation of Honey Course, hosted Nov.

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Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae) are keeping busy on a Vacaville (Calif.) passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Yes, They're Still There

October 29, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Yes, they're still there. More today than yesterday. That's how it goes in the Magical World of Butterflies. The Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae) are keeping busy, and so is this insect wedding photographer trying to capture their images.

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Two Gulf Fritillaries meet on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifolia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Why Love Is Like a Butterfly

October 28, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Love is like a butterfly A rare and gentle thing --Love Is Like a Butterfly, Dolly Parton When Dolly Parton penned her song, "Love Is Like a Butterfly," she probably wasn't thinking of passion butterflies, Gulf Fritillaries.

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Beeswax is a natural wax produced by worker honey bees, which have eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Waxing Poetic About Honey Bees and This Amazing UC Davis Bee Class on Wax Working

October 25, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Do you know how honey bees, the world's most beneficial insects, produce wax? Have you ever worked with beeswax? Have you ever made candles and wax resusable food wraps? Ever gifted them during the holidays to friends, family and co-workers?

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UC Davis plant nematologist Shahid Siddique (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

UC Davis-Linked Research on Nematodes Gets Special Recognition

October 24, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Nematodes (microscopic, eel-like roundworms) aren't usually a household word but they're featured prominently in the current edition of The Plant Journal. And UC Davis plant nematologist Shahid Siddique, formerly with the University of Bonn, is at the heart of it.

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