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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. 

A female Tramea lacerata or black saddlebags dragonfly, on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in Vacaville, Calif. Shortly after this image was taken, it flew. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Of Predators, Sidewalks and Black Saddlebags...

July 24, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's always a good day when you encounter a dragonfly on Main Street USA. Such was the case on Wednesday, July 17 when seemingly out of nowhere, a shiny Tramea lacerata "black saddlebags" appeared in front of me on the sidewalk fronting the Vacaville Chamber of Commerce.
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Keynote speaker Lynn Dicks (far left) of the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, with conference co-chair Neal Williams, pollination ecologist, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and speaker Rachel Vannette of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, who addressed the crowd on her hummingbird research. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Lynn Dicks: The Importance of People in Pollinator Conservation

July 23, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
The global decline of pollinators ought to concern everybody, and everybody ought to get involved, said bee conservation researcher Lynn Dicks of the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, in her keynote address at the fourth International Pollinator Conference, he...
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The California State Fair's Insect Pavilion is home to multiple displays borrowed from the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

If You Were a Bug, What Would You Be?

July 22, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
"If you were a bug, what would you be?" That sign greets visitors to the California State Fair's Insect Pavilion. It's a good conservation starter. The Insect Pavilion showcases insect specimens and insects from the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis.
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UC Davis plant nematologist Shahid Siddique (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Exciting Research on Nematodes Published

July 19, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you read The Plant Journal today, you may have noticed the exciting research published on nematodes. And it has a University of California, Davis, connection.
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