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.

Praying mantis lops off the head of a honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Bee for Breakfast

September 21, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Some folks enjoy a doughnut, bagel, muffin or fruit for breakfast--and maybe some cream cheese on the bagel and honey on the muffin. Not so the praying mantis. If he were in a restaurant, he'd tell the waiter "I'd like a bee for breakfast, please.

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Close-up of a fly, genus Eristalis, on a flower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Flies Are Pollinators, Too!

September 20, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

You may have noticed this little floral visitor in your garden. It might appear to be a bee, a common mistake to the untrained eye or those who think that all floral visitors are bees.

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A frame of honey at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey

A Taste of Honey

September 19, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you want to learn more about bees, honey and pollination, then you'll want to attend the debut event of the newly formed Honey and Pollination Center at the University of California, Davis. Themed "Bounty of Pollination: More Than Just Honey," the event is set from 1 to 5:30 p.m.

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Honey bee is snared in the web of a garden spider. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Let It Bee

September 18, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be Whisper words of wisdom, let it be --Paul McCartney When Paul McCartney of The Beatles wrote "Let It Be," released in 1970, he wasn't writing about honey bees. No, he was actually recounting what his mother (who died when he was 14) told him in a dream.

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Derek Tully (right) and fellow scout Willie Hawkins work on the fence surrounding the half-acre pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Honey of a Fence

September 17, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's a honey of a garden and a honey of a fence. So agreed the visitors attending the open house and recognition ceremony last Saturday, Sept. 15 at the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre pollinator garden next to the UC Davis Department of Entomology's Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.

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