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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. 

What's wrong with this picture? This is not a field cricket but a house cricket. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

What's Wrong With This Picture?

May 8, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Take a look at the insect below. "It's a cricket," you say. Correct. It is a cricket. But it doesn't belong there. Why? It's the wrong cricket. It's not a "field cricket" but a "house cricket." House crickets don't "belong" on flowers.
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A honey bee looking for a hole drilled by a carpenter bee in the corolla of a foxglove. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Robbing the Nectar

May 7, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's the easy way to do it. A carpenter bee heads for a foxglove blossom and drills a hole in the corolla to sip the nectar. This is "nectar robbing"--bypassing the pollination process and heading straight for the reward, the nectar. Honey bees are quick learners.
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Dixon May Fair Youth Building superintendent Sharon Payne with some of the insect photographs taken by youth exhibitors.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bring on the Bugs!

May 6, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Insects populate the earth and they're also populating the 140th annual Dixon May Fair (May7-10). Sharon Payne, superintendent of the Youth Building in Denverton Hall, noticed quite a few insects in the building--but in photographs.
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This bee observation hive, named "The Buzzingham Palace," will be on display Thursday through Sunday, May 7-10 at the Dixon May Fair. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Buzzingham Palace

May 5, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
"All the buzz" in England is the birth of a new member of the royal family, Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge. Born last Saturday in London, she will be known as Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, officials at Kensington Palace announced.
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