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.

An infestation of cottony cushion scale on Nandina (Nandina domestica). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Don't Cotton to This Pest

March 31, 2022

It sucks sap, it secretes honeydew, and it draws ants. And curious photographers. Last weekend we spotted cottony cushion scale, Icerya purchasi, infesting the twigs and branches of our Nandina (Nandina domestica), planted 22 years ago.

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These are Ishai Zeldner's bee boxes in The Hive, Woodland. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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The Beekeeper

March 30, 2022

Ishai Zeldner, a beekeeper turned businessman, would have been proud. Zeldner, who died in 2018 at age 71, would have been proud to see the family business he founded, Z Specialty Food, develop into a 20,000 square-foot facility at 1221 Harter Way, Woodland. It was his dream.

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"Queen Bee" Amina Harris of Z Specialty Food is also the executive director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Nature Day Celebration: Pride of Madeira, Pride of The Hive

March 29, 2022

If you've recently visited the pollinator gardens at The Hive, a family business owned by Z Specialty Food, 1221 Harter Way, Woodland, you've seen the spectacular Pride of Madeira, Echium candicans. Now another "pride" awaits.

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The UC Davis Entomology Games Team is comprised of (from left) Erin "Taylor" Kelly, Madison "Madi" Hendrick, Zachary Griebenow and Jil Oberski. Griebenow and Oberski were members of the 2018 national championship team.

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ESA Entomology Games Are Both Educational and Entertaining

March 28, 2022

Quick question: "Kleptopharmacophagy, a newly described behavior recently observed in milkweed butterflies, is characterized by adult butterflies feeding on milkweed caterpillars.

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An eggcase or ootheca warming on a clothespin in Vacaville, Calif. This is from a Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Ooh, an Ooth! And on a Clothespin, at That!

March 25, 2022

No doubt you've seen a praying mantis egg case, or ootheca, on a tree, shrub, fence or post. But have you ever seen one attached to a clothespin on an outdoor clothes line? So here we were Thursday afternoon, hanging freshly laundered dog blankets on the clothes line.

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