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 heading for an almond blossom on Bee Biology Road at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Everything Is Connected; Even the Bees

February 16, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."--John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra Ecologist Louie Yang of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, tags that quote at the end of each email. So true. On that note, did you catch the Feb.

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Brian Johnson in front of his bee observation hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

How Honey Bees Make Collective Decisions

February 15, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Like to know more about honey bees make collective decisions? Mark your calendar to attend a seminar this week at the University of California, Davis. Brian Johnson, assistant professor at the UC Davis Department of Entomology, will speak on "Organization of Work in the Honey Bee" from 12:10 to 1 p.

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Honey bee foraging on almond blossoms on Valentine's Day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sweet!

February 14, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

A good way to spend part of Valentine's Day is to "bee" among the almond blossoms. We stopped by the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Facility on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis, today to see and hear the bees buzzing. That they did! An entire chorus of bee buzzing...

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Paper wasp from the genus Mischocyttarus, goes head to head with a ladybug. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Wasp-Ladybug Encounter

February 13, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

What a spectacular paper wasp! On a visit last week to the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis, we saw a paper wasp (genus Mischocyttarus) foraging in the fava beans with assorted ladybugs, aphids and ants.

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Honey bees foraging in almonds on the grounds of the Laidlaw facility. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

At Last, Laidlaw Almonds in Bloom

February 10, 2012

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

At last, the Laidlaw almonds are in bloom. That would be the almond trees on the grounds of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road at the University of California, Davis. And no one appreciates this more than the bees holed up in the 40 hives behind the facility.

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