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. 

THIS COLLECTION of bees, by native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, shows the wide diversity of bees in Yolo County. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

So Many Bees

March 3, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Folks accustomed to seeing only honey bees (which are non-natives) buzzing around their yard probably aren't aware that in the United States alone there are some 4000 identified species of native bees. And they probably aren't aware of The Bee Course.
View Article
HONEY BEE nectaring nectarine blossoms. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

In the Pink

March 2, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's a peach of a tree, but it isn't a peach. It's a nectarine, a close variety of the peach--the result of a genetic mutation. In between the rain storms, honey bees are nectaring the nectarines and packing pollen, getting ready for the spring hive build-ups.
View Article
ICELAND POPPIES provide color to the backdrop of the old Town Hall in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Town Hall meeting

March 1, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
The old Town Hall off Main Street, Vacaville, Calif., is the perfect backdrop for Iceland poppies (Papaver nudicaule) thriving in planters. The Iceland poppies, sometimes called arctic poppies, are native to northern Europe and North America. "Papaver" is the Greek word for "poppy.
View Article
HONEY BEE heads for a Teucrium frutican "Azureum"--also known as a blue bush germander. Note the ant in the middle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bee Bliss

February 26, 2010
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
It didn't take long. Last year at this time the field next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road at the University of California, Davis stood bleak and barren. Nothing there but scattered patches of grass and a few pocket gophers and ground squirrels.
View Article
Subscribe