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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. 

Pollinator Posse member, Seth Newton Patel of Oakland watches his 4-year-old daughter Saathiya Patel, 4, dressed as a monarch butterfly, take flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Monarch Takes Flight

May 8, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
A monarch butterfly took flight at the third annual Butterfly Summit at Annie's Annuals and Perennials in Richmond, an event co-sponsored by the Bay Area-based Pollinator Posse.
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A male Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, nectaring on a tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii, in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Boys Are Back in Town!

May 7, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
The boys are back in town. After the long winter and rainy spring, the boys are back in town. That would be the male Valley carpenter bees, Xylocopa varipuncta, or what Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, calls "the teddy bear bees.
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James R. Carey, distinguished professor of entomology, is the author of a landmark study published in the journal Science in 1992 that showed mortality of Mediterranean fruit flies (medflies) slows at older ages. This is an image by photographer Jack Kelly Clark, formerly of the UC Integrated Pest Management Program.

Why Insect Studies Can Tell Us a Lot About Human Longevity

May 3, 2019
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Insects can tell us a lot about human longevity. James R. Carey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, will discuss "What Can Insect Studies Tell Us about Longevity and Aging? Lots!" at his UC Davis Emeriti Association presentation at 11:30 a.m., Thursday, May 9 in the Walter A.
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