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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Tobacco hornworm gently placed in a hand. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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My Turn to Hold the Hornworm

July 15, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 "My turn to hold the hornworm!"Youth and adults alike clamored to hold the tobacco hornworms at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's Moth Night.While attendees held the hornworms, other hornworms munched on a tomato plant.  A display sign about Metamorphosis in the Garden read:"Tobacco hornworms …
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Gulf Fritillary spreading its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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The 'Passion Butterfly'

July 14, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 That "passion butterfly," the Gulf Fritillary...Ever watched a Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, touch down on its host plant, the passionflower vine, Passiflora? Ever seen two Gulf Frits sipping nectar from a single passionflower blossom? We remember what UC Davis Distinguished Professor…
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White Witch at the Bohart Museum of Entomology
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The Witch Is In: At the Bohart Museum's Moth Night

July 11, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 It's not Halloween yet, but you'll see a "witch" at the annual Moth Night hosted by the Bohart Museum of Entomology on Saturday, July 12.A White Witch, that is. It's the legendary moth, Thysania agrippina, from the family Erebidae.  It's also called the Ghost Moth, Great Gray…
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Lorquin's admiral. (Photo by Marilyn Sexton)
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Admiring the Lorquin's Admiral

July 10, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 What a delight to see!When Fairfield resident and butterfly aficionado Marilyn Sexton spotted on her patio a butterfly that she'd never seen before, she grabbed her cell phone and took some images and a video.Brown-black wings, each lined with a row of white spots. Orange tips on the forewings. …
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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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