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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. 

Yellow roses are popular at the rose sale. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

What's Not to Love About Roses?

May 1, 2013
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
I beg your pardon I never promised you a rose garden Along with the sunshine There's gotta be a little rain sometime... So began Joe South in his hit song, "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," popularized by country singer Lynn Anderson in 1970. That was Joe South's rose garden.
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Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey

From Butterflies to Goldspotted Oak Borers

April 30, 2013
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Thursday, May 2 is a good day to learn about butterflies. That's when butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, will be speak at the Northern California Entomology Society meeting, to be held at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.
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Brown marmorated stink bugs. (USDA, Stephen Ausmus)

About That Stink Bug...

April 29, 2013
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It doesn't usually make the 6 o'clock news--or even the 10 o'clock news--but it's trouble. Trouble, indeed. The brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha hales), a native of Asia, was first discovered in the United States in Allentown, Penn., in 2000. Since then, it's been making a big stink.
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Honey bee foraging on tower of jewels. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Just Bee-lieve

April 26, 2013
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
When there's so much pain, grief and sorrow in the world, it's time to shut off the TV, log off the computer, exit the house, and photograph honey bees. Watching honey bees foraging in the tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii, is therapy enough.
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