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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A SURE SIGN OF SPRING--A truck loaded with bee hives tows a forklift as it travels through Sacramento. The forklift will alleviate the movement and placement of the hives in a soggy orchard. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

A Sure Sign of Spring

February 4, 2010
A sure sign of spring: trucks loaded with bee hives heading out to the almond orchards. Yes, almond pollination season is almost here. California has approximately 700,000 acres of almonds, and each acre requires two hives for pollination.
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LEAFCUTTER BEE, shown here on rock purslane, is one of the bees that Terry Griswold studies. This is a male, Megachile sp. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

To Bee or Not to Bee

February 3, 2010
To bee or not to bee. When research entomologist Terry Griswold (left) speaks on North American bees on Wednesday, Feb.
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CABBAGE is among the crops planted at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. The bee friendly garden includes other vegetables, fruit trees and almond trees, all pollinated by bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Plant It and They Will Come

February 2, 2010
Plant it and they will come. The Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, planted last fall, is already attracting a few honey bees. The half-acre bee friendly garden, located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.
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UC DAVIS graduate students Emily Bzdyk (left) and Fran Keller show different reactions to the cockroaches at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. Keller admits to liking other insects better; she's working on beetles for her doctorate. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Hissers in the Bohart

January 29, 2010
Its a comfortable life. Eat, sleep and mate. And then eat, sleep and mate again. Madagascar hissing cockroaches are a popular attraction at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis.
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