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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. 

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Western tiger swallowtail is one of the butterflies listed in Melissa Whitaker's app. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Spotlighting Butterflies

November 2, 2012
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you want to learn about butterflies, "there's an app for that." And a free one, at that.
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Western yellowjacket (Vespula penyslvanica) heading toward a red-hot poker (but this variety is yellow). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's No Vegetarian

November 1, 2012
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Bee specialists like to point out that the yellowjacket is a carnivore and the honey bee is a vegetarian. They are, indeed.
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Harlequin cabbage bug feeding on cabbage. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Bug That's Perfect for Halloween

October 31, 2012
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If there ever were a bug just perfect for Halloween, that would be the orange and black Harlequin cabbage bug, Murgantia histrionica, also known as a calico bug or fire bug. Its brilliant, distinctive colors bring back memories of a circus clown.
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Aedes aegypti transmits the deadly dengue. (Photo by James Gathany, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

An Important Message

October 30, 2012
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's Halloween tomorrow (Wednesday) but what's really frightening is Aedes aegypti, a mosquito that transmits the deadly dengue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dengue is the world's most rapidly spreading mosquito-transmitted disease. Some 2.
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