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.

KELLY LIEBMAN is researching dengue in Peru.

Battling Dengue and Malaria

December 15, 2009

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Meet Kelly Liebman and Wei Xu. They're graduate students and mosquito researchers in the Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, who just received the 2009 William Hazeltine Memorial Research Fellowship Awards.

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THIS is a male leafcutting bee, Megachile sp., as identified by native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis. It is nectaring rock purslane, which has a poppylike blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Making the Cut

December 14, 2009

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The cold, blustery storm that swept over Northern California over the last two weeks wiped out the rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora) and with it the "meeting place" of assorted insects: honey bees, leafcutter bees, ladybugs, bumble bees, potter wasps, et al.

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NEWEST ESA FELLOW from UC Davis is chemical ecologist Walter Leal, professor and former chair of the Department of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Good Fellows

December 11, 2009

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The Mafia has its Good Fellas. The Entomological Society of America (ESA) has its Fellows, too. And they're not just "good"--they're excellent.

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QUEEN BEE INSEMINATION is intricate work. Here college student Joy Pendell of Pendell Apiaries, Stonybrook, gets it right the first time. She was enrolled in Susan Cobey's August 2009 class. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Improving Stock

December 10, 2009

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Want to learn how to rear high-quality queen bees? Want to learn instrumental insemination of queen bees? Specialized classes, taught by bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, are scheduled next spring at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. Registration is now under way.

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BEE BREEDER-GENETICIST Susan Cobey, manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, holds a frame of bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Co-Bee

December 9, 2009

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

You won't find anyone more passionate about honey bees than Susan Cobey. Cobey, a bee breeder-geneticist and manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis, has just received the California State Beekeepers' Association's 2009 Distinguished Service Award.

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