Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
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Jeff Smith (foreground), curator of the Bohart Museum of Entomology's global Lepidoptera, chats with guests. In back is Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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An Afternoon in the Lepidoptera Collection

January 20th, 2025
What's his number? 2,530. That's how many specimen drawers that Jeff Smith, volunteer curator of the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology for the past 36 years, has crafted and donated to the "Lep" section. Smith brought another batch to the Bohart Museum at the Jan.
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A male yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, nectaring on a purple coneflower in Salem, Ore. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Bumble Bee Contest Is Over!

January 17th, 2025
The 2025 bumble bee contest is over. Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis announced today that "we have a winner" in the fifth annual Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble-Bee-of-the-Year Contest, sponsored by the Bohart Museum.
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Distinguished emeritus professor of entomology, Robbin Thorp (Aug. 26, 1933-June 7, 2019), detected more than 80 species of bees in the garden. This image was taken in April 2011. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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No Bumble Bee Winner Yet

January 15th, 2025
Update: No bumble bee winner yet. No announcements as of today regarding the winner of the fifth annual Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble Bee-of-the-Year Contest, sponsored by the Bohart Museum of Entomology.
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A honey bee foraging on flowering quince, a member of the rose family. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Flowering Quince: A Sure Sign of Spring

January 14th, 2025
Spring won't arrive until March 19, but don't tell that to the honey bees foraging on the flowering quince. Flowering quince, an early spring bloomer, is blooming here now.
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