Bug Squad

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.

Medical entomologist Laura Norris (right side of table, second from top) works with a night's catch of mosquitoes in Mali.

Just a Matter of Time

January 12, 2015

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It was just a matter of time. It was just a matter of time before the so-called "super mosquito" surfaced, resulting in the failure of insecticide-treated nets to provide meaningful control from malaria in some localities in Africa.

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Entomologist Bruce Hammock in his office in Briggs Hall. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Entomologist Helping Humankind

January 9, 2015

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

He is an EHH: Entomologist Helping Humankind. Bruce Hammock a distinguished entomology professor at the University of California, Davis, began his career trying to figure out how to control pests.

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A drone fly, Eristalis tenax (left), and a syrphid fly. They're from the same family, Syrphidae and are often mistaken for honey bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Umm, Where's the Bee?

January 8, 2015

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If there's one thing that entomologists hate, it's journalists who mistake a fly for a bee.

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A wasp (family Aphidiinae) parasitizing an aphid. (Photo by Fran Keller, who received her doctorate in entomology this year from UC Davis.)

What's It Like to Be Parasitized?

January 7, 2015

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

What's it like to be parasitized? Say you're a caterpillar or an aphid and a wasp comes along and lays her eggs inside you. Her eggs will hatch and then her offspring will eat their way out. You, the host, are no more. Zero. Zip. Zilch.

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A pollen-covered honey bee heading toward Bacopa. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

C'mon In, the Pollen's Fine!

January 6, 2015

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's a cold spell. As temperatures dip throughout much of California, and honey bees snuggle inside their hives, it's "bees-ness" in southern California this week.

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