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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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Emma "Em" Jochim, UC Davis doctoral candidate, on a field trip

Meet Butters at the Bohart on Biodiversity Museum Day

January 30, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Hi, Butters! When you visit the Bohart Museum of Entomology during the 14th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 8, you'll probably meet a scorpion named Butters. It's a new arrival, donated by a retired educator. She did not name it Butters.
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The yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenzkii, on an oak leaf at the Glen Cove Waterfront Park, as photographed on Jan. 11 by Michael Kwong.

Winning Bumble at the Glen Cove Waterfront Park

January 28, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
What are the odds? You're participating in a monarch-counting expedition, you photograph an image of a bumble bee with your cell phone, and you win a regional bumble bee contest, a contest you didn't know about at the time.
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UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus Art Shapiro relates how he collected the 2025 winning cabbage white butterfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Big Blue: A Sweet Ride for a Cabbage White Butterfly

January 27, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
When UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus Art Shapiro collected the first cabbage white butterfly of the year on Thursday, Jan. 23 to win his annual Beer-for-a-Butterfly Contest, the butterfly rode in sweet style to his campus office/lab--in a Big Blue soda bottle.
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