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 is a pitcher plant, Sarracenia leucophylla. It's carnivorous. The tubular leaf (left) is spent. The other two are ready to trap insects. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Dracula in the Garden

October 21, 2008

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

The red-pigmented white pitcher plant we purchased at the UC Davis Arboretum Plant Faire looks like a flamboyant coral reef. Like a hat askew, its ruffled lid hangs over the trumpet-shaped pitcher. The pitcher is actually a long, hollow tubular leaf. But looks are deceiving.

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A honey bee visiting a Russian sage seems to be wearing a new hat. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Peek-a-Bee

October 20, 2008

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Pull up a lawn chair and watch the honey bees. They're buzzing around the Russian sage, gathering nectar. So focused are they that they don't seeem to mind the photographer sharing their space. So dedicated. So committed. So industrious. Wait, a honey bee is wearing a new hat.

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Squeeze this stress ball and out will pop either assorted bugs, worms, frogs or rats. Nanase Nakanishi, a UC Davis student majoring in animal science, and an employee at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, displays what it does. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Your Main Squeeze

October 17, 2008

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Cmon, you know you want one. Who wouldnt want a horror skull stress ball to relieve the tension of today's world? Here's what you do. Take one stress ball. Place it in the palm of your hand and squeeze. From the eyeball socket pops out a membrane of assorted bugs.

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This female carpenter bee ("Josie the Carpenter?") robs nectar from sage. Check out the huge compound eyes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Not Joe the Plumber

October 16, 2008

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Plumbers, especially a plumber named "Joe," are hogging the news a lot lately. But what about the carpenters? What about the carpenter bees? The carpenter bee, a black bee larger than a bumble bee, burrows into dead trees, logs and your unpainted or unvarnished fence posts or deck.

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A green bottle fly lands on a daylily after the rain. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Make My Day!

October 15, 2008

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

"Go ahead, make my day." So said actor Clint Eastwood, as the character Harry Callahan, in the 1983 movie, Sudden Impact, after a robber grabbed a hostage. "Dirty Harry" was known for blowing away the bad guys. Clashes and confrontations often ended with blow flies on bad guys.

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