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.

A Flamin' Dragonfly

May 25, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Dragonflies occasionally hang around our fish pond to catch flying insects, such as flies and mosquitoes. Last weekend a gorgeous flame skimmer swooped down in our garden--a few yards from our fish pond--and landed on a bamboo stake. She absolutely glowed in the late afternoon sun.

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Of Butterflies and Moths

May 24, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Florian Altermatt (right) describes himself as a "keen biologist and naturalist." "I'm interested in community ecology, metapopulation, biologoy and evolutionary biology. Besides that, my pleasures are--as Vladimir Nabokov said once-the most intense known to man: writing and butterfly hunting.

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Frolicking in the Poppies

May 21, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The Campus Buzzway is buzzing with bees. The quarter-acre wildflower garden, located by the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.

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Just Hovering

May 20, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Every insect looks prettier when it lands on a tower of jewels (Echiium wildpretti). When in full bloom, the 9-to-10-foot-high plant, native to the Canary Islands, blazes with firecracker-red flowers. It's a showstopper.

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They're Pollinators, Too

May 19, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

When we think of pollinators, we usually think of honey bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, syrphid or flower flies, and butterflies. But wait, blow flies can be pollinators, too.

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