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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. 

Three's company! Three juvenile Cooper's hawks, as identified by Andrew Engilis, Jr. curator of the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology,cooling off in an urban birdbath in Vacaville. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Why Influx of Caterpillars Linked to Hawks

July 24, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." --John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra Muir said it well.
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Moth Night at the Bohart Museum of Entomology was the first-ever evening open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Oh, What a (Moth) Night!

July 23, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Oh, what a (moth) night! Saturday, July 18 marked the beginning of National Moth Week and the Bohart Museum of Entomology obliged with an indoor and outdoor open house, its first-ever evening open house. The event took place from 8 to 11 p.m.
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Ecologist Rick Karban has researched plant communication in sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) on the east side of the Sierra since 1995.

Plants Can Eavesdrop, Sense Danger

July 22, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Plants can eavesdrop. They can sense danger. So says ecologist Richard 'Rick' Karban, professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and author of the newly published book, Plant Sensing and Communication (University of Chicago Press).
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UC Davis Extension apiculturist Elina Niño (left) explaining bee biology. At right is staff research associate Bernardo Niño, her husband. They will teach two short courses in September. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

So You Want to Be a Beekeeper...

July 21, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
So you want to be a beekeeper...but you don't know where to begin. You're in luck. Bee experts at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, University of California, Davis, are planning two short courses or sessions in September--the first on Sept. 13 and the second on Sept. 20.
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