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.

A milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus, as identified by curator Michael Pirrello of iNaturalist) peers over the leaf of a milkweed plant, Asclepias speciosa, in a Sonoma County. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Red Invaders: Those Colorful Milkweed Bugs

August 28, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you've been finding more milkweed bugs than monarchs on your milkweed, join the crowd. Monarchs are scarce--at least around Solano and Yolo counties--but milkweed bugs are quite plentiful.

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A varroa mite on a drone pupa. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Upcoming UC Davis Course: How to Monitor, Mitigate and Manage Varroa Mites

August 27, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you're a beekeeper or plan to be a beekeeper, you're aware of Public Enemy No. 1. That would be the varroa mite, Varroa destructor, an eight-legged external parasite that attacks and feeds on honey bees. Those mites can spread viruses and decimate a healthy colony.

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First in series: A male European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) targets a female foraging on a snapdragon. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Love Is in the Air...er...in the Snapdragons

August 26, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Love is in the air. Or, more specifically, in the snapdragons. If you maintain a pollinator garden, you've probably seen female European wool carder bees (Anthidium manicatum) nectaring on flowers or scraping or carding fuzz for their nests.

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An assassin bug drills a pest, a spotted cucumber beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Let's Hear It for Biocontrol, Integrated Pest Management

August 23, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Let's hear it for biocontrol. You've seen lady beetles, aka ladybugs, preying on aphids. But have you seen an assassin bug attack a spotted cucumber beetle? No? How about a crab spider munching on a stink bug? All biocontrol, part of integrated pest management (IPM).

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A female praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata (as identified by praying mantis expert Lohit Garikipati of UC Davis) eyes a duskywing butterfly, genus Erynnis, nectaring on verbena. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Just Look, Don't Take?

August 22, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

When we last left Ms. Mantis, a female Stagmomantis limbata residing in our verbena patch, she was munching on a honey bee. A successful ambush stalker, she was. But not always. Her plan to take down a duskywing butterfly, genus Erynnis, didn't go so well.

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