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.

Logan Loss, 6, of Rocklin talks about scorpions to Bohart associate and scorpion scientist Wade Spencer. The kindergarten student is an avid scorpion enthusiast. Also pictured are members of the Vacaville Brownie Girl Scout Troop (from left) Jayda Navarette, Keira Yu and Kendl Macklin, front. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It Was a Scorpion Kind of Day at the Bohart Museum of Entomology

April 23, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Little Logan Loss of Rocklin is only 6 but already he knows more about scorpions than many, if not most, adults do. Logan, a visitor at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's recent open house on spiders and other arachnids, wowed the crowd with his knowledge of scorpions.

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A redfemured spotted orbweaver, Neoscona domiciliorum, photographed in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sarah Stellwagen: On the Trail of Spider Glue

April 22, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Spider glue: it's a sticky subject but there's much more to it than that.

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A male monarch seeking nectar in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Butterfly Summit: Are Butterflies Heralds of Apocalypse?

April 19, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough," wrote the late poet Rabindranath Targoe (1861-1941) of Bengali, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. There may not be "time enough" for some species that are rapidly declining.

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Bohart associate Fran Keller, an assistant professor at Folsom Lake College and a UC Davis alumnus (she received her doctorate in entomology studying with Lynn Kimsey) holds some of the new dragonfly t-shirts available at the Bohart Museum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Bee-Line to the Bohart Museum: T-Shirts and Calendars

April 18, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Folks are making a bee-line to the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis, for its spring sale. All proceeds support the insect museum in its educational and outreach activities.

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UC Davis medical entomologist Geoffrey Attardo shows Sebastian and Kamila Ehrlich examples of what insects they might want to see in virtual reality. In back is their mother, Carollina Ehrlich. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

'Adventure Awaited' at Virtual Reality Demonstration

April 17, 2019

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

"Adventure Awaits!" the theme proclaimed. And that it did Saturday at the 105th annual UC Davis Picnic Day--especially at the second annual "Virtual Reality Bugs" display at Briggs Hall, the administrative home of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

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