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.

THIS PRAYING MANTIS gets lots of attention at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Going Buggy

February 9, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Let's go buggy at the Bohart! The Bohart Museum of Entomology, which houses more than seven million insect specimens at its facility on the University of California, Davis campus, has extended its hours to include several weekends. The first will be Saturday, Feb. 13 from 1 to 5 p.m.

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TEXTBOOK COVER of "The Insects: An Outline of Entomology." The textbook, considered "the gold standard of entomology books," will be available in the United States in March. It is the work of UC Davis professors Penny Gullan and Peter Cranston.

Long Awaited: The Insects

February 8, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The Insects are coming. The Insects are coming. That would be the fourth edition of The Insects: An Outline of Entomology, the newly published work of professors Penny Gullan and Peter Cranston (at right) of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

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Prized Award

February 5, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

A nice prize! Evolutionary ecologist Anurag Agrawal (right), who received his doctorate in population biology from the University of California, Davis in 1999 under major professor Richard Rick Karban, has just received the sixth David Starr Jordan Prize for his innovative research inolving plant-an...

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A Sure Sign of Spring

February 4, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

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)

To Bee or Not to Bee

February 3, 2010

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

To bee or not to bee. When research entomologist Terry Griswold (left) speaks on North American bees on Wednesday, Feb.

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