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.

This photo of a bee foraging on a zinnia, taken in the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, graces the front and back covers of "Bee Friendly: A Planting Guide for European Honeybees and Australia Native Pollinators." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

All the Way from Down Under

November 4, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

One of the most prominent and distant--as in far away--visitors to the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, the half-acre bee friendly garden on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, was Mark Leech of Launceston, Tasmania, Australia.

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Skull shares the habitat of the giant cave cockroah (Blaberus gigante). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Things That Go Bump and Boo in the Night

November 1, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It was about things that go bump and boo in the night during the annual Bohart Museum Society's Halloween party. The society's annual Halloween party in the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, showcased a combination of insects and costumes.

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Jumping spider peering between the petals of a yellow rose. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

About Those Jumping Spiders!

October 31, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Every day should be Spider Appreciation Day, but especially on Halloween. Ophthalmologist and professor Ivan Schwab of the UC Davis Health System says that spiders get a bad rap. Few would harm you, and only rarely are spiders aggressive towards humans.

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A digger bee, Habropoda pallida, with blister beetle larvae. (Photo by Leslie Saul-Gershenz)

Bug Squad: Article

Bees, Parasites and Maybe the End?

October 30, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Thursday, Nov. 7 promises to be an exciting day for the Northern California Entomology Society--a great presentation by UC Davis evolutionary ecologist Leslie Saul-Gershenz, who researches how blister beetle nest parasites cooperate to mimic the sex pheromone of a digger bee.

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Norm Gary in his bee suit. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bug Squad: Article

What Will It Bee?

October 29, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

What will it be? Wear bees or eat insects? Lets do both! UC ANR Vice-President Barbara Allen-Diaz promises to wear beeshoney beesif she can raise $2500 by Thursday, Oct. 31 for the UC Promise for Education, a fundraising project to help needy UC students. See her promise page to donate.

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