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.

Honey bee heading toward tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Celebrate the Honey Bee!

August 16, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Saturday, Aug. 17 is National Honey Bee Day and it's time for a tribute, a salute and a cheer, all combined into one: Go, bees! We're glad to see concerned citizens, organizations and businesses contributing to bee research at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.

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An Italian honey bee nectaring on phacelia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Do Blondes Have More Fun?

August 15, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Shirley Polykoff (1909-1998), the advertising legend who coined the words "Is it true blondes have more fun?" for a Clairol jingle, raised awareness of blondes, insinuating that "gentlemen prefer blondes.

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Yellowjackets are attracted to this plastic container. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Not What You Want in Your Drink

August 14, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

On an outing last Saturday to a Marin County restaurant, we spotted half-filled glasses lining a railing near the picnic tables. As the guests dined on seafood, yellowjackets dined on bits of protein left behind.

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Tiny Gulf Fritillary butterfly egg at end of a tendril on a passionflower vine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It All Begins with an Egg

August 13, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's no surprise that students as young as kindergarteners are eager to learn about the life cycle of a butterfly--from an egg, to a caterpillar to a chrysalis to an adult. Complete metamorphosis. Complete awe.

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Female Gulf Fritillary butterfly dries her wings after emerging from her chrysalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's a Girl!

August 12, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

At last! From an egg to a caterpillar to a chrysalis to a butterfly. And it's a girl! For several days we've been protecting a Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) chryalis on our passionflower vine (Passiflora) from predators.

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