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.

Honey bee on a blanket flower, Galliardia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Buzz About Pesticides

November 29, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

"Reducing the Usage of Bee-Killing Pesticides in My Community." That's the topic--and a good one it is--of the 2013 4-H Honey Bee Essay Contest, sponsored by The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees.

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Professor Marc Tatar of Brown State University, Providence, R.I., will deliver the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Seminar at UC Davis on Dec. 5.

He'll Give the Leigh Distinguished Seminar

November 28, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's quite an honor to be singled out to deliver the Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Seminar, hosted annually by the UC Davis Department of Entomology. This year's recipient is Marc Tatar, an authority on the aging of insects.

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This species, from genus Macrocopturus, is waiting to be described. And waiting for a name. (Photo by Andrew Richards)

The Perfect Gift

November 27, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

So, you're looking for that perfect, one-of-a-kind holiday gift. One that will not only be memorable but a conversation piece.

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A Jerusalem cricket. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Strange Little Insect

November 26, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's a strange little insect. A reader likens it to "a cricket on steroids." A Van Nuys resident says she always wondered what they were. "I've lived in this house for 17 years, and a few times a year I see this strange insect in my backyard. It is always either dead or dying.

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Bruce Graham Hammock at the Observation Basin in Kings Canyon National Park, a large fishless basin where much of his research occurred.

Getting the Drift

November 23, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's exciting to see a son follow in the footsteps of his father: soon there will be more than one Hammock with a Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis.

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