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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. 

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The Biological Orchard and Gardens (BOG) sign features floral and insect designs. It's located by the Mann Laboratory, UC Davis campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This BOG in the Heart of UC Davis Is a Treasure

June 6, 2018
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
"A bog is a wetland that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant materialoften mosses, and in a majority of cases, sphagnum moss."--Wikipedia. Not so with the Biological Orchard and Gardens (BOG) on the University of California, Davis, campus.
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Anise Swallowtail Papilio zelicaon, nectaring on Verbena in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Welcome, Anise Swallowtail!

June 5, 2018
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Anise Swallowtail, Papilio zelicaon, fluttered into our pollinator garden and headed straight for the Verbena. Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, identified the gender: "it's a girl.
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A Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) clinging to a lavender stem in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Bee and the Butterfly

June 1, 2018
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
So here's this Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) clinging to a lavender stem in our pollinator garden. It is all alone--for a little white. Then here come honey bees seeking to forage on the lavender, too. One bee buzzes next to the butterfly's wing. Then it soars up and over.
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