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LUCKY BUG--This ladybug soaks up sunshine after being discovered in a garbage can. Her two-legged rescuers saved her from a trip to the landfill.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

The L-Bug

January 5, 2009
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
There she was, snuggled beneath a garbage can lid, seeking warmth as temperatures dipped to freezing levels. She was lucky. It was City Garbage Pick-Up Day. She could have been trucked to the local landfill had we not rescued her. Luck be a lady and she was.
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PISTACHIO LOVER--This navel orangeworm showed a preference for pistachios. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Penchant for Pistachios Leads to Startling Find

January 2, 2009
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Chemical ecologists at the University of California, Davis, are changing their navel-orangeworm research direction after an elementary school students science project found that the major agricultural pest prefers pistachios over almonds and walnuts.
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ROCK PURSLANE--The magenta-colored rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora) is a favorite of honey bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Twenty-Nine Days to Go

January 1, 2009
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Twenty-nine days to go. If you love bees and know how to design a bee friendly garden, remember Jan. 30. Jan. 30 is the deadline to submit your design for the half-acre bee friendly garden at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis.
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TURN OVER A NEW LEAF--and there's a praying mantis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Turning Over a New Leaf

December 31, 2008
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
For my New Year's resolution, I resolve to turn over a new leaf. Oh, sure, most folks resolve to eat less, exercise more, drink less, read more, stress less, save more, gripe less, and volunteer more. Not me. I'm turning over a new leaf.
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BLUE BUTTERFLY--This butterfly in the live butterfly display at the Entomological Society of America's recent meeting in Reno prompted photographers to aim, focus and shoot. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Flying Flower

December 30, 2008
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ponce Denis couchard Lebrun compared the butterfly to a flying flower: The butterfly is a flying flower, The flower a tethered butterfly. At the recent Entomological Society of America meeting in Reno, a blue butterfly drew the attention of lepidopterists and photographers alike.
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GATHERING NECTAR--This honey bee at the University of California, Davis, is gathering nectar on Cenizo (Leucophyllum frutescens). Newly published research from the University of Illinois finds that honey bees on cocaine dance more, and that the bees are motivated by feelings of reward. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

What a Buzz!

December 29, 2008
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Right out of Champaign, Ill., comes a research story about honey bees on coke. Cocaine. University of Illinois entomology and neuroscience professor Gene Robinson and his colleagues have found that honey bees on cocaine dance more.
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DEAD BEES--Drones are pushed out of the hive, cold and hungry, as the honey-gathering season ends and the weather turns colder. Some of these bees are drones (males) and some are worker bees (infertile females). This photo was taken Dec. 20, 2008. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Not Brotherly Love

December 26, 2008
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
'Tis the season for brotherly love, but not in the bee hive. As the honey-gathering season ends and the weather turns colder, the worker bees (infertile females) push their brothers--the drones--out of the hive. Drones are of no use to the colony in the winter. They're another mouth to feed.
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BEELINE--A pollen-packed honey bee makes a beeline for a red-hot poker, variety "Christmas Cheer," in the Storer Gardens at UC Davis. The date: Dec. 20, five days before Christmas. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Christmas Cheer

December 25, 2008
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
I always thought the red-hot poker was primarily red. Not. This one in the Storer Gardens at the University of California, Davis, was mostly yellow. It was Saturday, Dec.
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LADYBUG--You should treat the ladybug with kid gloves; it's a beneficial insect. Here a ladybug, aka lady beetle, crawls on a gardener's glove. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Christmas Bug

December 24, 2008
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
If there ever were a Christmas bug, it would be the ladybug, aka lady beetle. The insects (family Coccinellidae) are brightly colored and spread joy in the garden when they feast on aphids. Last summer we enjoyed watching them hanging out and hooking up.
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A HONEY OF A BEE--Newly published research in the journal Current Biology finds that the buzz of honey bee wings scares off plant predators, like caterpillars. This bee is gathering nectar from a guara. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Superman, Meet the Super Girls

December 23, 2008
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
You're sitting around discussing the importance of honey bees. The points include: they give us honey, they pollinate agricultural crops, and they serve as an example of a well-organized society. But wait, there's more. They scare off plant predators.
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