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Bug Squad

Bug Squad blog image depicts a honey bee sting in action.

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. 

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Yellow-fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. (CDC Image)

Targeting the Sex Steroid Hormones of Mosquitoes

October 2, 2026
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 About those mosquito sex steroid hormones...Mackenzie Yedlin, a doctoral candidate at The Rockefeller University, will discuss "Choreographing Reproduction: Redefining Sex Steroid Hormone Mechanisms in Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes" at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar on…
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Svastra obliqua expurgata on a coneflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Mapping the Great Native Bee Count in California

October 1, 2026
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 The E.L. Niño Bee Lab,  UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, today launched a UC Davis Crowdfund effort to fund  The Great Native Bee Count: Mapping California’s Bee and Plant Connections, a project to begin next spring that would "engage Californians of all ages as community…
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UC Davis Professor Hugh Dingle at Briggs Hall. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

So Sad to Lose Hugh

September 30, 2026
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 It's so sad to lose Hugh Dingle, a longtime member of our UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty. He was short in stature, but tall in research.In fact, UC Davis Professor Emeritus Richard Douglas Hugh Dingle, was considered “the world’s eminent scholar on animal migration,” a…
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Bruce Hammock portraits

Memorial Tribute to Bruce Hammock to Be on YouTube

September 29, 2026
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal, who is organizing the "Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Bruce Hammock," today announced that the event will be broadcast live on YouTube. This is the Zoom link to register to see the webinar on YouTube. The public memorial will take place at 1 p.m…
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Monarch on zinnia.

Houston, We Have Lift-Off!

September 28, 2026
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 A monarch butterfly circles a Vacaville pollinator garden, surveys for predators and mates, and then touches down on an expired zinnia. It sips nectar, and then lifts off.Houston, we have lift-off.Roger that!The once brightly colored zinnias, now dull as ditch water, seem to have met their…
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