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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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An Italian bee forages in the red Japanese apricot, Prunus mume "Matsubara red." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's Raining Pink in the Storer Garden at UC Davis

January 27, 2014
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
When it ought to be raining, it's raining pink. They say you can't fool Mother Nature or outsmart Father Time but that's not the case in the UC Davis Arboretum. A red Japanese apricot, Prunus mume "Matsubara red" glows with absolute radiance in the Storer Garden.
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Tom Hammock, a renaissance man, has authored a graphic novel featuring a girl scientist who solves mysteries in a southern swamp. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It All Began With Bugs

January 24, 2014
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It all began with bugs. That's where it usually begins when your father is an entomologist. Tom Hammock, son of distinguished professor Bruce Hammock, of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, learned about insects early in life.
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A long-nosed bee fly in the Storer Garden, UC Davis Arboretum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey

Bug of the Year!

January 23, 2014
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you're wondering which bug won "Bug of the Year" in Emmet Brady's Insect News Network (INN) radio poll, it's not the honey bee. But there is a "bee" in its name. It's the "long-nosed bee fly.
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Newly released queen bumble bee foraging on pansies. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bumble Bees Apparently Not Parasitized

January 22, 2014
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Apparently they're not parasitized. The three queen bumble bees (Bombus melanopygus) we found circling our porch lights the night on Jan. 9 appear to be fine.
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