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.

Honey bee foraging on a rose. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Everything's Coming Up Roses--and a Few Bees

May 3, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Honey bees aren't that much into roses. Wild roses, yes. Cultivated roses, not so much. Given a choice, they'll take the lavenders, mints and salvia (sage) over the roses any time.

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A monarch butterfly foraging on a Mexican sunflower in the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Migratory Immunity in Monarchs

May 2, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Monarch butterflies, says Sonia Altizer, are "globally distributed and best known for undertaking a spectacular annual migration in parts of North America.

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Honey bee foraging in a tower of jewels. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Yule'll Like This One

May 1, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you're growing a tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii) in your yard, you won't need a stop sign or a traffic light to encourage vehicles to slow down--they will automatically when they see this spectacular plant. it's a traffic stopper.

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Common blue damselfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Like a (Blue) Needle in a Haystack

April 30, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Sometimes it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The common blue damselfly or Northern Bluet (Enallagma cyathigerum) is long and slender like a needle, but a jeweled blue needle.

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Nature's Gallery, a mosaic mural celebrating insects and plants, is now at home in the Storer Garden, UC Davis Arboretum, on Garrod Drive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Nature's Gallery: Absolutely Spectacular

April 27, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Nature's Gallery is absolutely spectacular. You may remember hearing about the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program project when it was displayed in the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 2007. Nature's Gallery drew raves then and it's drawing raves now.

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