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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. 

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Honey bee on Mexican sunlower (Tithonia rotundifola) in the UC Davis Bee Haven. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Visit to the UC Davis Bee Haven

September 26, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 What do you prefer to do on a day off?For me, it's a "mini-vacation" to the UC Davis Bee Haven, the half-acre bee demonstration garden maintained by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT). Installed in the fall of 2009, it's located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr Honey Bee Research…
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Megarhyssa atrata by Sloan Tomlinson

What a Wasp! What a Tattoo!

September 25, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 This is too good not to share!"That Wasp Guy" Sloan Tomlinson of Hatfield, Mass., an artist, photographer, researcher, and educator who "shares the beauty of the most-maligned insects: wasps," now has an incredible tattoo on his arm. It's of a Megarhyssa atrata, also known as the black…
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UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey at the Vacaville Museum's "Art of Death" gallery exhibit. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

'It's One Universal Experience We All Wlll Share'

September 24, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 "It's one universal experience we all will share."So said a panel of eight professional experts in the death industry when they gathered in the Vacaville Museum courtyard to discuss their work. The museum hosted the panel discussion as part of its current gallery exhibition, "The Art of Death," which…
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Male subadult praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Look Before You Leap!

September 23, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 "Look before you leap!"How many times have you heard that or something similar: "Pay attention! Watch your step! Be careful!  Be vigilant!"But have you ever seen a praying mantis take a step and then a gigantic leap--right into a spider web? "That's one small step for mantis, one giant leap for…
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Asian tiger mosquito.

Meet Lisa Baik, New Mosquito Researcher at UC Davis

September 22, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Meet Lisa Baik, the new mosquito researcher at UC Davis.Baik, a UC Davis alumna and a former postdoctoral researcher at Yale University--and described as a “brilliant scientist”--is the newest member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology  (ENT) faculty.Baik joined the faculty…
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