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.

Honey bee heads for the tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii). There are two bees in this photo. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bee-Hold the Tower of Jewels

April 22, 2011

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's worth the wait. The two towers of jewels (Echium wildpretii) are blooming in the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, the half-acre bee friendly garden next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. The plant is a biennual and it blooms the second year and that's it.

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Feral honey bee colony in Vacaville, Calif. (Copyrighted. All Rights Reserved: Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bee-utiful Feral Honey Bee Hive

April 21, 2011

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's spectacular. It's awe-inspiring. It's a work of art. And it's home to a feral honey bee colony in Vacaville. A Vacaville resident contacted us awhile back about a feral honey bee hive built 30 feet off the ground in a Modesto ash tree.

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This work, Maggot Art, is by entomologist/artist Diane Ullman. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

There's Something About Maggots...

April 20, 2011

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

There's something about maggots that non-forensic entomologists don't like. "Those are the larvae of a fly," a mother told her inquiring daughter last Saturday at the Maggot Art table at Briggs Hall, UC Davis campus. The occasion: the 97th annual UC Davis Picnic Day.

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Andrena bee on meadowfoam. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey

'Mining' for Bees

April 19, 2011

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you visit the Jepson Prairie Reserve near Vacaville-Dixon in Solano County, keep your eyes out for Andrena (mining) bees on the meadowfoam (Limnanthes). We were out there Monday morning and saw a mining bee nestled inside a white flower cup.

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The dengue mosquito, Aedes aegypti. (Photo courtesy of James Gathany, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

Trying to Control Dengue

April 18, 2011

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

It's not just high temperatures that play a significant role in the transmission of dengue, a deadly mosquito-borne disease that strikes millions of people in tropical and subtropical countries.

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