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.

CHEMICAL ECOLOGIST Walter Leal (right) is the 2010 recipient of the prestigious C. W. Woodworth Award, presented by Woodworth's great-grandson Brian Holden (left) at the 94th annual meeting of the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America. (Courtesy Photo)

High Honor

April 13, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Charles W.Woodworth would have been proud. When the C. W.

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FIELD OF REDMAIDS, California native wildflowers, near the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. Mixed in are fiddleneck (yellow), also frequented by bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A Patch of Redmaids

April 12, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Redmaids aren't red. They're purple-petaled with white centers and yellow stamens. The California native wildflower (Calandrinia ciliatais) from the purslane family (Portulacaceae) blooms from February through May. Farmers who grow baby spinach and other crops consider it a weed. Honey bees don't.

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BARELY VISIBLE, this is a newly hatched praying mantis, held by Emily Bzdyk, a first-year graduate student in entomology at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

No Fear

April 9, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

No fear. None at all. Some of the bugs you'll see at the UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 17 at the Bohart Museum of Entomology are "baby" praying mantises or mantids. An egg case (here's one at right) hatched on Emily Bzdyk's desk this week.

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A HONEY BEE lands on a tulip, a plant generally not a "bee friendly plant." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Tiptoeing Through the Tulips

April 8, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Honey bees don't like tulips, right? Right. You don't plant tulips to attract bees, and you don't attract bees with tulips. They prefer such bee friendly plants as lavender, salvia, catmint, sedum, cherry laurels and tower of jewelsnot to mention fruit, almond and vegetable blossoms.

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MY BUDDY--Matan Shelomi, a first-year graduate student in entomology at UC Davis, checks out a lime green walking stick at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. It will be a key attraction at the insect museum on Picnic Day, set April 17. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Just Buggin' You

April 7, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

When the University of California, Davis, celebrates its annual Picnic Day on Saturday, April 17, be sure to check out the bugs. Entomologists will showcase insects at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at 1124 Academic Surge on California Drive, and at Briggs Hall, off Kleiber Drive, from 11 a.m.

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