Bug Squad

A daily (M-F) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008 and about the wonderful world of insects and those who study them. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emerita Lynn Kimsey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Congrats, Lynn Kimsey, CAS Fellow

October 21, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Congratulations to UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emerita Lynn Kimsey of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, newly inducted Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences (CAS). Kimsey, an internationally recognized hymenopterist,  directed the Bohart Museum of Entomology for 34…
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Franklin's bumble bee nectaring on lupine near Mt. Ashland in 1999. (Photo by Robbin Thorp)

Robbin Thorp and Franklin's Bumble Bee

October 20, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 UC Davis Distinguished Emeritus Professor Robbin Thorp, an avid bumble bee conservationist, monitored Franklin's bumble bee, F Bombus franklini, for 21 years, until his death in 2019.The bee occupies only a narrow range of southern Oregon and northern California. Its range, a 13,300-square-mile area…
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European praying mantis at the Vacavillel Museum Courtyard.

What a Day When Betty White Visited the Vacaville Museum

October 17, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 What a day when Betty White visited the Vacaville Museum!Not the beloved Betty White, the American actress, comedian, producer, activist, and animal welfare advocate who passed Dec. 31, 2021 at age 99. It was her namesake.It all began when the Vacaville Museum hosted a public function on Oct. 11…
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Monarch butterfly on Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Status of the Monarchs in California

October 16, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Since Saturday, Sept. 27, we've recorded almost daily sightings of migrating monarchs passing through our pollinator garden in Vacaville on their way to their overwintering sites along coastal California.The monarchs are stopping by for some flight fluel--nectar from our stand of Mexican sunflowers,…
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UC Berkeley professor Rosemary Gillespie

Spider Researcher Rosemary Gillespie to Present UC Davis Seminar

October 15, 2025
 UC Berkeley professor Rosemary Gillespie, an evolutionary biologist known for her spider research, will present a seminar hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology on Wednesday, Oct. 22.Gillespie, professor of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, Division of Insect Biology…
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