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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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Honey bee with a load of propolis which her sisters later unloaded. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It's the Glue that Holds It Together

June 24, 2011
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Honey bee foragers collect nectar, pollen, water and propolis. Propolis? What's propolis? It's that sticky plant resin or "goo" that the bees use to seal small spaces in the hive. It's also known as "bee glue.
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Soapberry bug on the UC Davis campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Natives vs. Non-Natives

June 23, 2011
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Quick! When you think of non-native species, what's your first reaction? That they're Public Enemy No.
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Female wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) heads for lupine at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Have You Hugged Your Pollinator Today?

June 22, 2011
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Have you hugged your favorite pollinator today? It's National Pollinator Week, and you're allowed to do that this week. Actually, any time you feel the inclination. Honey bees, bumble bees, wool carder bees, leafcutter bees, sweat bees--they're all out there, ready for a hug.
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Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, shows UC master gardener Kathy Ziccardi a collection of his native bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

'Bee' is for Benefit

June 21, 2011
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Who celebrated the most? Homo sapiens or Apis mellifera? It was difficult to tell.
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Golden ladybug, Coccinella septempunctata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Golden Ladybug

June 20, 2011
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Tabatha Yang saw it first. She's the education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis. What she saw--in a grassy field at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, west of the central campus--was a golden ladybug, aka lady beetle.
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