Bug Squad

A daily (M-F) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008 and about the wonderful world of insects and those who study them. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Lygus bug chewing on a yellow rose bud. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

This Bud's Not for You

March 30, 2026
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Hey, lygus bug, that bud's not for you!Our yellow rose bushes, "Sparkle and Shine,"  purchased in May of 2013 at the California Center for Urban Horticulture (CCUH) Annual Rose Day at the University of California, Davis, are budding and blooming again.The roses usuually bud and bloom in late…
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Crane fly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

They Don't Eat Mosquitoes

March 27, 2026
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Some folks call them "Mosquito Hawks" or "Daddy Long Legs" or "Skeeter Eaters."  They're not hawks, they're not arachnids, and they don't eat mosquitoes.They are crane flies, members of the family Tipulidae of the order Diptera (flies). With the temperatures rising, they're everywhere now,…
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Professor Joanna Chiu in her UC Davis lab in 2010. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Not the Only Champion at Home!

March 26, 2026
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 When the exciting news broke today that molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and a professor in the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, is a newly elected Fellow of the American Association…
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Adekunle Adesanya, Ph.D., samples for the western tarnished plant bug Lygus hesperus in alfalfa in Walla Walla, Wash., in July 2020. (Photo by Peter Alege)

Lessons from Generalist Pest Herbivores

March 25, 2026
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Friday, March 20 marked the first day of spring, and Wednesday, April 1 marks the first of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's nine spring seminars. The seminars will take place on Wednesdays at 12:10 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall, UC Davis campus, through May 27. They also will be on…
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Grasshoppers ready to eat. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Hop to It!

March 24, 2026
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Oh, the quotes about grasshoppers! "War among grasshoppers delights the crow.""Two ants do not fail to pull one grasshopper.""The restless grasshopper only finds rest in the gizzard of a bird.""A grasshopper that sleeps about will soon be awake in a lizard's mouth."Crows, ants, birds, lizards, who…
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