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.

Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito laying eggs. (Photo by Samuel Woo, UC Davis)

Heaven-Scent

August 26, 2008

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Whew, that stinks! If you've ever smelled a mosquito gravid trap, you know it's not heaven-scent. This isn't about the aroma of summer roses or the whiff of freshly baked cinnamon rolls or the fragrance of vanilla-laced skin cream. No. This is something that stinks to high heaven.

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Karen Flores and Dennis Price: The bees have their attention and their respect. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey, Meet Me at the Fair

August 25, 2008

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

As a child, Dennis Price loved to watch the honey bees. I could sit and watch them all day, he said. He still does. Love the honey bees, that is. And he never tires of watching them. If you attended the California State Fair on Sunday, Aug. 17 or Saturday, Aug.

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Wei Xu, of chemical ecologist Walter Leal's lab, gets drenched. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Friday Lite: Bruce's Big Balloon Battle at Briggs

August 22, 2008

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Friday lite. That's what it was. But it was more than that, too. Every year, Bruce Hammock, distinguished professor of entomology at UC Davis, wages a water balloon battle for faculty, researchers, graduate students, staff, family and friends.

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We found this dazzling butterfly last weekend in the Berkeley marina parking lot. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Beauty Isn't Skin Deep

August 21, 2008

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Beauty isn't skin deep. It's wing deep. The Anise Swallowtail butterfly dazzles you with its yellow stripes and blue dots. If it were a painting, it would be a Michelangelo. If it were music, it would be Vivaldi's "Spring." If it were a car, it would be a sleek Lamborghini.

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Hillary Thomas is studying the saltcedar beetle (Diorhabda elongata): a good bug on a bad weed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Good Bug, Bad Weed

August 20, 2008

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Hillary Thomas' biological control research on a leaf-eating beetle that targets saltcedar has scored a bullseye. Thomas, a doctoral candidate in entomology at UC Davis, has received a $15,000 Robert and Peggy van den Bosch Memorial Scholarship to support her research.

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