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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. 

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UC Cooperative Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen (1944-2022) of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility apiary. Image taken in 2010. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

2024: Revisiting 'The 13 Bugs of Christmas'

December 24, 2024
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Back in 2010, UC Cooperative Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen (1944-2022) of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and yours truly, department communications specialist, wondered why no insects appear in "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Zero. Zilch. Nada.
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Insect mimicry

Insect 'Infomercials' You Won't Want to MIss

December 23, 2024
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you have some free time during the holidays--free time, what's that?--and you're interested in insects, you'll want to watch a series of UC Davis insect "infomercials.
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This is one of the bumble bees that microbial ecologist Danielle Rutkowski studies: a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Congrats to Danielle Rutkowski: Early Career Entomology Award

December 19, 2024
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
We're delighted that microbial ecologist Danielle Rutkowski, a UC Davis doctoral alumna and now a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at Iowa State University, has just received a Royal Entomological Society Early Career Entomology Award, Highly Commended, for her research piece, Bee-Ass...
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Black-faced bumble bee, Bombus californicus, on Purple Ginny sage, Salvia coahuilensis. Both are natives. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Native Plants Part of Landscape of Gorman Museum of Native American Art

December 18, 2024
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
"When the Gorman Museum of Native American Art relocated to a new space, campus partners and students worked to make the grounds nearby home to the types of plants traditionally used by Indigenous cultures, such as white sage, a food also used in religious ceremonies, and yarrow, a medicinal herb.
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