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)

UC Davis chemical ecologist Walter Leal, distinguished professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, has just been named recipient of the UC Davis Academic Senate's Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Students. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Walter Leal: Lighting the Way and Sparking the Fire of Knowledge

February 19, 2020

"I don't teach because I have to; I teach because it is a joy to light the way and to spark the fire of knowledge." So says noted chemical ecologist Walter Leal, newly selected recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching from the UC Davis Academic Senate.

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Harvesters or daddy-long legs mating. (Photo courtesy of Mercedes Burns Lab)

Mercedes Burns: Evolutionary Biology of Sex and Sexual Conflict of Harvesters

February 18, 2020

Evolutionary biologist Mercedes Burns of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, should draw a large crowd when she discusses her research on the evolutionary biology of sex and sexual conflict of harvesters or "daddy-longlegs.

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The Western bumble bee, Bombus occidentalis, is a candidate to be listed under the Endangered Species Act. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

UC Davis Symposium to Address Insect Decline: 'Saving a Bug's Life'

February 17, 2020

A unique UC Davis symposium on "Saving a Bug's Life: Legal Solutions to Combat Insect Biodiversity Decline and the Sixth Mass Extinction" will bring together law and science to address insect biodiversity decline.

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Butterflies from Belize are part of the global collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. They are (far right) Blue Morpho, Morpho helenor montezuma; (top left), a leaf mimic, Fountainea eurypyle confusa; and blue hairstreak, Pseudolycaena damao, according to entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepidoptera section. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bug Squad: Article

Diversity of Bugs at Bohart Museum of Entomology

February 14, 2020

If diversity is the spark of life, then the Bohart Museum of Entomology is fueling that spark into a full flame. The Bohart Museum, home of nearly eight million insect specimens collected worldwide, will be one of the 13 museums or collections open on Saturday, Feb.

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Ready for UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day are scientists (from left) Ivana Li, biology lab manager; Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology; Steve Heydon, Bohart Museum senior museum scientist; Lacie Newton, doctoral student, Jason Bond lab; Brennen Dyer, lab assistant, Bohart Museum; and Rebecca Godwin, doctoral candidate, Jason Bond lab. In front is Juniper, Ivana Li's dog. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Why Diversity Reigns Supreme at the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day

February 13, 2020

Diversity will reign supreme at the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 15, when 13 museums or collections will be open to the public. The event, set from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., is free and family friendly.

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