Bug Squad Logo

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. 

LYGUS BUG, a serious pest of such crops as cotton, alfalfa and strawberries, is also commonly found in the garden. This one is on lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Looking for Lygus

September 30, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Frances Sivakoff knows a lygus bug when she sees one. Sivakoff (right), a doctoral candidate in the UC Davis Department of Entomology, won a 2010 Robert and Peggy van den Bosch Memorial Scholarship for her work on the regional movement of the pest.
View Article
FIERY SKIPPER (Hylephila phyleus) in a jet-fighter position on sedum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Skippers and Sedum

September 29, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Skippers and sedum. Sedum and skippers. A perfect match. The flower, sedum (family Crassulaceae), and the fiery skipper butterfly (Hylephila phyleus, family Hesperlidae) make a stunning autumn photo. When late afternoon sun strikes its fighter-jet wings, it glows brilliantly.
View Article
HONEY BEE forages on Joe-Pye Weed, a perennial that blooms in the late summer and early fall. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Pye in the Eye

September 28, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
You gotta love the Joe-Pye Weed. It's a shady character and a late bloomer. That is, it loves the shade and blooms in the late summer and early fall. Better yet, bees and butterflies love it. Once you hear the distinctive name, Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum) you'll never forget it.
View Article
REDHUMPED CATERPILLARS dining on a leaf of a redbud tree. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This Red(bud's) for You

September 27, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
There's a whole lot of crunchin' going on. The redhumped caterpillar has discovered our redbud tree, which it considers an "all-you-can" buffet. Now this is a voracious eater on the same scale of a fellow named Joey "Jaws" Chestnut. Seconds? Yes, please. Thirds? Of course. Fourths? Definitely.
View Article
Subscribe