Bug Squad

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/bugsquad/index.cfm. The story behind "The Sting" is here: https://my.ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7735.

UC Davis entomologist student Jo Ridgeway, a Bohart Museum of Entomology intern, shows a stuffed toy animal, a tick, from the Bohart gift shop. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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A Fuzzy-Wuzzy Good Time with Holiday Gifts

November 18, 2025

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Bug enthusiasts will have a "jolly good time" or a "fuzzy-wuzzy good time" selecting holiday gifts that the Bohart Museum of Entomology and the UC Davis Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) are offering."Fuzzy-wuzzy" wasn't a bear. It was probably a wooly bear caterpillar …

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A male longhorned bee, Melissodes agilis, on a Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Those Pollinator-Plant Interactions

November 17, 2025

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Thinking about pollinator-plant interactions?This promises to be interesting...UC Merced assistant professor Marilia Palumbo Gaiarsa will present a seminar, hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, on "From Foraging to Fiitness: How Individual Behavior Shapes Plant-Pollinator…

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UC Davis doctoral candidate answering questions about bees at a recent Bohart Museum of Entomology open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Moths Can Mimic Bees, Too!

November 14, 2025

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Bee Mimics!Did you know that some moths mimic bees?When the Bohart Museum of Entomology hosts its free and family friendly open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 15 on "The Bees and Their Mimics"--the program will be coordinated by UC Davis doctoral candidates Lexie Martin and Abigail Lehner--you…

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Male leafcutter bee on rock purslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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'Science Saturday' at Cache Creek and Bohart Museum: Some Buzz, Some Swim

November 13, 2025

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Nov. 15 promises to be a terrific "Science Saturday," involving two UC Davis events. And both are free and family friendly.The Bohart Museum of Entomology will host an open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 15 on "The Bees and Their Mimics," coordinated by UC Davis doctoral candidates Lexie Martin…

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A syrphid fly on a Gaillardia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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To Bee or Not to Bee

November 12, 2025

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

Gertrude Stein wrote that "A rose is a rose is a rose."In a spin-off, we offer: "A bee is a bee is a bee" and "A fly is a fly is a fly."They are not the same. But they are both pollinators. Books, magazines and newspapers sometimes err in publishing a photo of honey bee that's actually a syrphid…

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