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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. 

The Predator and the Pest

October 3, 2016
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
So here's this praying mantis perched on top of a prickly pear cactus. It's early morning and she's hungry. A cabbage white butterfly, looking like a white-gowned princess in a medieval palace, flutters by and pauses on the prickly pear to seek some sunshine. Oops! Fatal mistake.
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Oh, the Bugs They Saw at the Bohart!

September 30, 2016
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
When the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, hosted an open house showcasing specimens collected last summer in Belize, attendees came from far and wide, from senior citizens to pre-schoolers.
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In a Butterfly State-of-Mind

September 29, 2016
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
So here's this gravid praying mantis perched on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in a Vacaville pollinator garden. She's in a butterfly state-of-mind, a picture of patience and persistence, a predator like no other. She doesn't have long to wait.
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That Amazing Migrating Monarch Project

September 27, 2016
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
He may have been born" in an Ashland, Ore., vineyard. But at least we know he hails from Ashland. That's what we learned about the male monarch that fluttered into our pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif. on Monday, Sept.
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