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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. 

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Alex Wild's portrait of a Mexican honey wasp, San Antonio, Texas. This public domain image is among the images in the newly launched "Insects Unlocked" Project. Donations are being accepted to make it all happen.

'Insects Unlocked': How You Can Make It Happen

March 23, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you've ever wanted free access to incredible macro images of insects and spiders, this is it. Images of arthropods in the public domain that you can download. Free. For. All.
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Extension apiculturist emeritus Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology talks to the crowd. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It Was All the Buzz

March 20, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It was all the buzz. Visitors at the annual California Agriculture Day, held Wednesday, March 18 on the west lawn of the State Capitol, made a beeline to the California State Beekeepers' Asssociation (CSBA) booth to see the bees, pocket some honey sticks and talk bees.
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A female Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, forages on grape-scented sage, Salvia melissodora. Note the "pollen cap." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sold on the Salvia

March 19, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ever watched Valley carpenter bees (Xylocopa varipuncta) foraging on salvia?
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A Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui, nectaring on lantana. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Luck Be a Lady! (A Painted Lady)

March 18, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
The "Painted Ladies" are back in the Davis area. These are not the two-legged type, but the winged type--Vanessa cardui. They're migrating and driving UC Davis entomology and ecology students nuts.
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If you look closely, this green lacewing that fluttered onto a porch light fixture, is not alone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Eating o' the Green

March 17, 2015
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It was not the greatest of St. Patrick's Day surprises. A green lacewing nailed by a garden spider? And on the porch light fixture? So true.
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