Bug Squad Logo

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. 

A bee fly, genus Villa, collecting pollen on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Why Flies Are Pollinators, Too!

October 7, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Will all the pollinators please stand up! Or do a fly-by like the Blue Angels or a crawl-by like babies competing in a diaper derby. Bees--there are more than 4000 of them in North America--are the main pollinators, but don't overlook butterflies, beetles, birds, bats and moths. And flies.
View Article
A lady beetle munching on an aphid while another aphid (far right) looks on. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Aphid Eater

October 6, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
The circle of life... Monarch caterpillars feast on milkweed, their host plant. Oleander aphids feast on the juices of milkweed plants. Lady beetles, better known as ladybugs (but they're beetles, not bugs) feast on the aphids. The milkweed is the only plant that the monarch caterpillars eat.
View Article
A wind-whipped female variegated meadowhawk, a Sympetrum corruptum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

To 'Catch' a Dragonfly

October 5, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Dragonflies are fierce predators but they are predator-shy. "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck," as the saying goes.
View Article
Robber fly staring at the photographer. A robber fly is one of many insects that students use in "How to Make an Insect Collection." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

How to Make an Insect Collection

October 1, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's that time of year again. Teachers ask their students to make an insect collection. The project is considered a "rite of passage." However, often the students--whether they be middle school, high school or college level--don't know where to begin.
View Article
Subscribe