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.

Bohart associate and entomology student Wade Spencer (left) shows Chancellor Gary May and Dean Helene Dillard a stick insect from the Bohart Museum of Entomology's petting zoo. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

UC Davis/UC ANR Communicators Win ACE Awards

June 12, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Insects played a key role in the recent awards announced by the international Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Life and Human Sciences (ACE). Five entomology-related entries from UC Davis won awards.

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A tsetse fly, the work of medical entomologist Geoffrey Attardo. He will deliver a presentation on tsetse flies at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 12 in the G Street Wunderbar, 228 G St.

Got Milk? Got a Question About Tsetse Flies?

June 11, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Got milk? Got a question about tsetse flies? Yes? Then you'll want to attend the Science Caf presentation on Wednesday, June 7, when medical entomologist and tsetse expert Geoffrey Attardo of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology will discuss Got Milk?

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A lady beetle, aka ladybug, ready to devour aphids, its primary food source. Image taken in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Birds, Bats or a Bloom? But No Splat!

June 9, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Remember that massive green blob that showed up Tuesday night, June 4 on the National Weather Service (NWS) radar in San Diego, and NWS tweeted it was a a cloud of ladybugs (termed a bloom)? Wait! They may NOT have been ladybugs, scientifically known as lady beetles, family Coccinellidae.

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Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology, with Franklin's bumble bee, a bee he had been monitoring since 1998. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Remembering the Legendary Robbin Thorp

June 7, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

We cannot imagine a world without Dr. Robbin Thorp. The distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis--he preferred to be known as Robbin--was a global and legendary authority on bees, an amazing person and an incredible scientist.

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A male European wool carder bee patrolling snapdragons in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

European Carder Bees Do Like Snapdragons!

June 6, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

What a show! Last weekend we spotted female European wool carder bees (so named because they collect or card plant hairs for their nests) buzzing in and out of our snapdragons. The bees, about the size of honey bees, are mostly black and yellow.

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