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.

Three's a Crowd: The Saga of Two Stink Bugs and a Bee

June 9, 2017

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

So, here we are, a couple of stink bugs hidden in the lavender. Unnoticed. Undetected. Undisturbed. We're loving the lavender, and we're in the process of providing the world with more stink bugs. "Okay, we know, we know. We're red-shouldered stink bugs (Thyanta pallidovirens).

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No Fun Having a 'Hole in One'

June 8, 2017

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's no fun having a "hole in one." No, not golf. A hole in your butterfly habitat. So, here it is September of 2016 and we're at home rearing monarch butterflies as part of our small-scale conservation project to help the declining population.

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A June Bridal Couple That Monarch Moms and Dads Will Hate

June 7, 2017

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Ready for those June weddings? Coming to an altar near you...a bride and a groom. "When you marry in June, you're a bride all your life."--Anonymous. "Look happy," say the wedding photographers as they focus on the bridal couple, and then single out the bride who will be a bride all of her life.

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The Lady Beetle and the Syrphid Fly

June 6, 2017

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

So, here I am, an Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis) perched on a rose bush in Vacaville, Calif., as dawn breaks. I'm eating aphids and minding my own beetle business, which consists of gobbling aphids and more aphids. And more aphids. Did I say more aphids? More aphids.

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Do 'Cats Eat Other 'Cats? Do Larva Eat Other Larva?

June 5, 2017

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's a dog-eat-dog world out there. It's also a 'cat-eat-'cat world, that is, when a caterpillar eats another caterpillar. Or in this case, when larva eats larva. We recently spotted this lady beetle larva eating a syrphid fly larva on our yellow rose bush, "Sparkle and Shine.

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