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.

"The honey bee genome,” Robert Page Jr. explained, “is composed of about 15,000 genes, each of which operates within a complex network of genes, doing its small, or large, share of work in building the bee, keeping its internal functions operating, or helping it function and behave in its environment. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Shedding New Light on Honey Bee Chromosomes

December 3, 2018

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Honey bee geneticists with long ties to UC Davis are putting together those missing pieces of the puzzle involving bee chromosomes. Newly published research by a team of Germany-based honey bee geneticists, collaborating with Robert Eugene (Rob) Page Jr.

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Overwintering monarchs in the Berkeley Aquatic Park on Nov. 26, 2015. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Sad State of the Overwintering Monarch Population in California

November 30, 2018

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Where are all the overwintering monarchs? If you traveled to the Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz this fall or to any of the other overwintering monarch sites along coastal California to see these iconic butterflies, did you see very many? Probably not.

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Two Dermacentor occidentalis (Pacific Coast ticks) "collected" during a Sonoma outing: male on the left and female on right, as identified by Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. They are about the size of a sesame seed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Those Amazing Ticks: And How Hungry Ticks Work Harder to Find You

November 29, 2018

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

They ticked me off. Ticks can do that to you. I never think about ticks during the holiday season, but a news release from the University of Cincinnati about how Hungry Ticks Work Harder to Find You piqued my interest--and memories of the day our family inadvertently collected a total of 14 ticks.

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Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, walks along one of his study areas, Gates Canyon Road, Vacaville. This image was taken Jan. 25, 2014. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Insect Apocalypse: Where Have All the Insects Gone?

November 28, 2018

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

"Where have all the flowers gone? Long time passing Where have all the flowers gone? Long time ago Where have all the flowers gone? Girls have picked them every one When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?

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Karey Windbiel-Rojas' cockroach costume proved a crowd pleaser at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house. Here entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the butterflies and moths at the Bohart, gives his approval. Windbiel-Rojas, with the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) is the associate director for Urban and Community IPM. (Photo by Tabatha Yang)

The Day That Cockroaches Stole the Show

November 27, 2018

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It was the day that cockroaches stole the show. However, bed bugs, carpet beetles and pantry pests got into the act and competed mightily for the spotlight. The occasion: The UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology open house, held Sunday afternoon, Nov. 18. The theme: "Urban Entomology.

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