Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay

UC ANR is renovating its website. The Bug Squad blog, by Kathy Keatley Garvey of the University of California, Davis, is a daily (Monday-Friday) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008. It is about the wonderful world of insects and the entomologists who study them. Blog posts are archived at https://my.ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/archive.cfm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Leafcutter bee on stem. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Buzzwatch 2025 Underway

July 8, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 What's buzzing? What's fluttering? What's crawling?Planet Bee Foundation is encouraging all folks interested in native bees and native pollinators to join its Buzzwatch 2025, which it launched June 1 during National Pollinator Month and will continue through Aug. 31."Use iNaturalist to document native…
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Tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Ever Held a Tobacco Hornworm?

July 8, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Ever held a tobacco hornworm?You can when the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis hosts its annual "Moth Night" open house on Saturday, July 12. It takes place from 7 to 11 p.m. and it's free and family friendly, Parking is also free.Bohart Museum scientists will be displaying, among other live…
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Ranchman's tiger moth. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Like a Moth to a Flame...

July 7, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Like a moth to a flame...That typifies the attraction of folks who plan to attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology's annual "Moth Night" on Saturday, July 12. The open house, set from 7 to 11 p.m., is free and family friendly. Just head over to Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker…
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A soldier beetle sunning itself on a yellow rose petal. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Just Soldiering On...

July 4, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 The British are coming! The British are coming!The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere?No, just soldier beetles, family Cantharidae, scrambling for aphids.Soldier beetles are so named because they sport a color pattern reminiscent of the British soldiers who battled The Thirteen Colonies (then known as "Great…
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Stink bugs on a zinnia in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Stink Bugs Suck

July 3, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 It seems like a good day to post images of stink bugs..We spotted a pair of stink bugs on our zinnias "keeping busy" today.They suck. Truly.Stink bugs are shield-shaped sucking insects, family Pentatomidae, and California is home to more than 50 stink bug species. How did they get their name? When…
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