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.

Close-up image of cells in an abandoned hive; colony collapse disorder suspected. Note the bee antenna near the center. And the mold. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Remember "BSI: The Case of the Disappearing Bees?"

August 25, 2022

Remember the alarm, the anxiety and the agony when news first surfaced about colony collapse disorder (CCD)?

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UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal is the sixth UC Davis faculty member to be be named Honorary Member of the Entomological Society of America. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Congrats to Three Outstanding Entomologists

August 24, 2022

Congratulations to the three newly selected Honorary Members of the Entomological Society of America (ESA): UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal, UC Davis-educated Melody Keena, a research entomologist with the U.S.

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This monarch, tagged by one of David James' citizen scientists in Ashland, Ore., on Aug. 26, 2018, fluttered into a Vacaville pollinator garden on Sept. 5, 2016. "It flew 285 miles in 7 days or about 40.7 miles per day," James related. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Learn About Monarchs at Western Monarch Summit in San Luis Obispo

August 23, 2022

If you're a monarch butterfly scientist, a researcher, a citizen scientist, a conservationist, or just an aficionado, mark your calendar. The 2023 International Western Monarch Summit will take place Friday through Sunday, Jan. 20-22 at Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, and registration is now underway.

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A lady beetle prepares for take-off in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Flight of the Lady Beetle

August 22, 2022

Have you ever seen a lady beetle, aka ladybird beetle, aka ladybug, take flight? Have you ever photographed it? It's early morning, Aug. 20. A lady beetle is snacking on aphids on our native milkweed plant (where the monarchs are supposed to be, but aren't!).

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A robber fly peers at the camera. This is Mallophora sp., as identified by robber (assassin) fly expert Charlotte H. E. Alberts, a UC Davis doctoral candidate who studies these insects. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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If It's Friday, It Must Be...

August 19, 2022

If it's Friday, it must be Friday Fly Day. The calendar crawls slowly sometime, but its numbers do not lie. It's Friday Fly Day, all right, which means it's a good day to post an image of a fly, this time a robber fly.

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