Bug Squad

A daily (M-F) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008 and about the wonderful world of insects and those who study them. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Worker bes cleaning out queen cells. Honey bee presentations will be part of the ICE program. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

ICE Is Red-Hot!

November 17, 2014
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
You've heard folks say "cold as ice," right? Well, ICE is red hot. The International Congress of Entomology (ICE) is gearing up for its 2016 conference, "Entomology without Borders," to take place Sept. 25-30, 2016 in Orlando, Fla.
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This honey may or may not have been poisoned by neonics, but it's definitely "under the weather." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Neonics: Should They Be Banned?

November 14, 2014
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Neonicotinoids. It's a 14-letter word but many people consider it a four-letter word. Wikipedia defines it as a "a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine...In the late 2000s some neonicotinoids came under increasing scrutiny over their environmental impacts.
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A honey bee encounters rain drops Nov. 13 in the midst of the California drought. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's All The Buzz

November 13, 2014
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Honey bees will be "all the buzz" next week when the California State Beekeepers' Association (CSBA) meets Nov. 18-20 in Valencia, Calif., and the Entomological Society of America (ESA) meets Nov. 16-19 in Portland, Ore.
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A long-horned male bee, Melissodes robustior, on the leaf of a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey

Where the Bees Are

November 12, 2014
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Take a photo of a bee--any bee--and then look it up in the newly published California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday).
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A syrphid fly, aka hover fly or flower fly, on an Iceland Poppy. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Matadors in the Champagne Bubbles

November 11, 2014
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's cool how honey bees and syrphid flies gravitate toward the Iceland Poppy. It's a winter plant, and frankly, there isn't much to eat out there. The Iceland Poppy (Papaver nudicaule), a bowl-shaped, papery flower, fills the bill. The name is a misnomer. It's not native to Iceland.
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