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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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THIS is a preview of the North American Bee Calendar, created by native bee enthusiast Celeste Ets-Hokin of the San Francisco Bay Area. Proceeds benefit the Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation and the Great Sunflower Project.

Calendaring the North American Bees

September 24, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

This is no ordinary calendar. We just previewed the second annual North American Native Bee calendar and it's just absolutely spectacular.

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HONEY BEE GURU Eric Mussen says that "beekeepers in California are cautiously optimistic that their colonies are going to survive the winter in better shape that they have in the past few years." He'll be the keynote speaker at a public celebration, "Bee Informed," on Wednesday, Sept. 29 at the Citizen Hotel in Sacramento.

Bee Informed

September 23, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Colony collapse disorder--what's the status? Beekeepers in California are cautiously optimistic that their colonies are going to survive the winter in better shape that they have in the past few years, says Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen, member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty.

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