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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. 

Honey bee "squadron" aiming for the flowering artichokes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Bees and the Blue Angels

October 13, 2014
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Honey bees and the Blue Angels... Honey bees sometimes seem to fly in formation over such plants as flowering artichokes, but their precision--if you could call it that--never matches that of the Blue Angels. For one, the pollen-packing bees are wobbly and bump into one another.
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Male wool carder bee heads for the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Male Wool Carder Bees: In-Your-Face Behavior

October 10, 2014
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
She described it to a "T." That would be "T" for territorial. Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at UC Davis, spotlighted the European wool carder bee in her current edition of the Bohart Museum Society newsletter. The males are aggressive.
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A Gulf Fritillary butterfly on purple lantana. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

How's Your Front Yard Looking?

October 8, 2014
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
How's your front yard looking? A little bit brown due to the drought? Thinking of replacing some of your plants with drought-tolerant ones? And hoping to attract some bees, butterflies and other wildlife? You're in luck.
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This is a dead caterpillar killed by an infectious virus disease (Polyhedrosis), as identified by UC Davis butterfly expert Art Shapiro. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Highly Infectious Viral Disease, 'Kind of Like Ebola'

October 7, 2014
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's something you don't see every day. I'm used to seeing Gulf Fritillary chrysalids hanging from our passionflower vine (Passiflora) but this thing hanging from our African blue basil was not a chrysalid.
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