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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. 

Bohart Museum Open House: 'Insects and U'

September 15, 2017
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Mark your calendar! Here's an opportunity--especially for new students and prospective students at the University of California, Davis and their families--to learn about insects. While students are moving into the dorms on Sunday, Sept.
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The Sneaky Cuckoo Bee

September 14, 2017
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
You could call it a slacker, a deadbeat, a moocher, a sponger, or a loafer. Or you could call it a cuckoo bee. Take the cuckoo bee, Xeromelecta californica, a parasite of the digger bee, Anthophora.
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Flurry of Pink at Gold Ridge

September 13, 2017
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
There's a flurry of pink at the Gold Ridge. That would be the Luther Burbank Gold Ridge Experiment Farm in Sebastopol. "Luther Burbank bought his 15-acre farm on Gold Ridge in 1885 in Sebastopol," says the Western Sonoma Historical Society on its website.
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A Bright Face in the Garden: Banded Argiope

September 11, 2017
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
We have bright faces in our Vacaville, Calif., pollinator garden. The bright faces are usually that of assorted bees and butterflies nectaring on members of the sunflower family: Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) and blanketflowers (Gaillardia).
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