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, appearing in the field guide, is of Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen being stung by a honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Great Field Guide to Bees

June 4, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you've studied bees, you know that there are approximately 20,000 described species of bees in the world. Most people are familiar with honey bees and bumble bees, but they don't know about "those big black bees" (carpenter bees) or "those green metallic bees" (sweat bees).

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Flame skimmer ((Libellula saturata), outlined against the sky. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

June 3, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's a bird, it's a plane... It's not Superman. It's a flame skimmer dragonfly (Libellula saturata). We spotted this dragonfly in our yard recently and crouched down for a low angle, framing it against the sky. This is one insect that everyone notices and admires. Except maybe its prey...

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European wool carder bee nectaring on Lamb's Ear. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

They're Not Sheepish on the Lamb's Ear

May 31, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The next time you're around a lamb's ear--no, not the animal, the plant (Stachys byzantina)--watch for buzzing bees. Especially the European wool carder bees (Anthidium manicatum). The females card the fuzz from the soft, silvery-gray leaves for their nests.

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Multiple hands at work on the mosaic ceramic panels. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

'Life in the Hive': Bee-utiful Art

May 30, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Its all about the bees, the garden and the art. The UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program is installing mosaic ceramic panels on cement planters at the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly garden on Bee Biology Road, west of the UC Davis central campus.

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A honey bee encounters a velvety tree ant. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Bee and the Ant

May 29, 2013

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Lavender. Honey bees love it. We watched a honey bee foraging on lavender blossoms last weekend, when an ant appeared on the scene. The ant? A worker of Liometopum occidentale (velvety tree ant), according to ant specialist Phil Ward, professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis.

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