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.

A male Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, nectars on a a mustard blossom in Vacaville, Calif. on Sunday, March 25. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Boys Are Back in Town

March 26, 2018

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The boys are back in town! Well, at least one is. We don't know where the girls are. Neither, apparently, does he. A male Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, aka "the teddy bear bee," buzzed into our mustard patch Sunday and nectared on the blossoms for about 10 minutes.

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Larva of lady beetle munching on an aphid. (Photo by Kathy Keeatley Garvey)

A Field Day for Learning About Cover Crops and Beneficial Insects

March 23, 2018

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

So you're a rural landowner thinking about planting cover crops in your fields or orchards. And/or, you want to learn more about beneficial insects. You're in luck.

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This was the scene at the Harry H. Laidlaw Research Facility, UC Davis, for a testing of applicants for the California Master Beekeeper Program. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

How to Become a California Master Beekeeper

March 22, 2018

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

So you want to become a California Master Beekeeper.

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A honey bee and a lady beetle, aka lady bug, thrust deep inside a mustard blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Bee and The Ladybug

March 21, 2018

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

A little drama in the mustard patch... A honey bee is foraging head-first in the mustard. She's collecting nectar and pollen. She does not see the lady beetle, aka ladybug, thrust head-first above her. The honey bee is dusted with yellow pollen. The ladybug, not so much. The bee moves closer.

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A black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, heads for a nectarine tree in Vacaville, Calif. on March 18. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bumbling Into Spring

March 20, 2018

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Might As Well Be Spring "I'm as restless as a willow in a windstormI'm as jumpy as puppet on a stringI'd say that I had spring feverBut I know it isn't spring."--Frank Sinatra Wait, it is spring! Today is the day we've all be waiting for--the first day of spring.

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