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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. 

This is the University of California Linnaean Games Team competing at the 2018 meeting of the Entomological Society of America. From left are Zachary Griebenow and Brendon Boudinot of UC Davis, captain Ralph Washington Jr. of UC Berkeley, and Emily Bick of UC Davis. They won the national championship. (ESA Photo)

Emily Bick: Entomologist Extraordinaire Off to University of Copenhagen

July 30, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's difficult to believe that it was four years ago--four years ago!--that Emily Bick, entomology student extraordinaire, joined the doctoral program in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. How fast time passes. Bick will present her exit seminar at 3 p.m., Monday, Aug.
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Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, sits next to her well-used microscope. Its cover is a pack rat, a stuffed toy animal. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Well, Yes, That's What It Is!

July 29, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you should walk into the office of Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, you may not notice it at first. The desk, yes. The books, yes. The specimens, yes. Wait, what's that protective cover on the microscope? Could it be? It is.
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"Moth Man" John DeBenedictus (left) shows Professor Jason Bond the insects on the sheet in the Bohart Museum's blacklighting display last year. Bond is the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Like a Moth to a Flame: Moth Night at Bohart Museum of Entomology

July 26, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Like a moth to a flame... That's what it will be like when folks flock to the Bohart Museum of Entomology on Saturday night, Aug. 3 for its annual Moth Night. It's free and family friendly--and it's all in keeping with National Moth Week: Exploring Nighttime Nature, July 20-28.
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A male longhorned bee, Melissodes agilis, targets the back of a painted lady, Vanessa cardui, on a Mexican sunflower in a Vacaville pollinator garden. This is typical territorial behavior. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Just Being Totally Territorial

July 25, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
What was that! If you grow Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia) in your pollinator garden, you've probably noticed the fast-flying longhorned male bees being totally territorial. Their job is to target whatever's on the Tithonia.
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