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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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Green darner dragonfly, Anax junius, in Benicia State Historical Park. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Find the Green Darner

October 10, 2018
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Find the green darner. Trying to spot the green darner dragonfly, Anax junius--so named because of its resemblance to a darning needle--is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. But there it was, camouflaged in shrubbery on Sept. 23 in the Benicia Capitol State Historical Park.
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An anise swallowtail, Papilio zelicaon, sets the scene in the Kate Frey Pollinator Garden at Sonoma Cornerstone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Buy a Plant and the Pollinators Are Free!

October 9, 2018
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
When you head over to a nursery, and see bees and butterflies and other pollinators foraging on the plants, that's a good sign. Buy the plants. Promise: The pollinators will come.
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Medical entomologist Geoffrey Attardo in his office. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Targeting the Tsetse Fly

October 8, 2018
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
He targets the tsetse fly. Tsetse flies, large biting flies that inhabit much of Africa, feed on the blood of humans and other vertebrates and transmit such parasitic diseases as African trypanosomiasis. In humans, this disease is better known as sleeping sickness.
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