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. Feedspot lists it as one of the top entomology blogs on the Internet.

Petal Pushers

May 13, 2011

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Honey bees and daisies are made for each other. The white petals and the golden centers seem incomplete without the presence of buzzing bees. Today we watched a pollen-packin' honey bee, with a pollen load the color of autumn pumpkins, work a daisy.

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Flakes of wax on a wax builder. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Not Waxing Poetic

May 12, 2011

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Ever seen a wax builder? A "real" wax builder? Bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey and beekeeper-research associate Elizabeth Frost of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at the University of California, Davis, showed us a wax builder last week. No, two wax builders.

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Brian Fishback at the Harry H.Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bee-Lieving in the Bees

May 11, 2011

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Beekeeping comes naturally for Brian Fishback of Wilton, a past president of the Sacramento Area Beekeepers Association and a volunteer at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at the University of California, Davis.

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Redshouldered stink bug on a lavender stem. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Behind the Shield

May 10, 2011

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you've ever been shoulder to shoulder with a redshouldered stink bug--or nose to antennae--you know this is a bug to boot out of your garden. It's a pest. Behind that shield-shaped body is a pest.

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Italian honey bee foraging on lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Mother's Day Delight

May 9, 2011

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Mother's Day, insect-style, dawned like any other day. In our back yard, golden honey bees foraged in the lavender and those ever-so-tiny sweat bees visited the rock purslane. The honey bees? Those gorgeous Italians.

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