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.

Butterfly collections, like the Morpho displays, are a popular attraction at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Applications Due March 21 for UC Davis Bio Boot Camp

March 18, 2022

If there are youngsters in your life who love insects, birds, and all things nature, tell them about the UC Davis Bio Boot Camps. The deadline to submit an application is 11 p.m., Monday, March 21. To apply, students must write a letter about why they want to attend Bio Boot Camp.

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Principal investigator (PI) Marc Johnson (far right) led the team with co-PI Rob Ness (far left), second author; and doctoral student James Santangelo (center), first author, all of the University of Toronto. The research was published in the journal Science on St. Patrick's Day (Johnson's birthday anniversary), with the official publication set March 18 (Ness' birthday anniversary).

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Clover Research Published on St. Pat's Day: Luck o' the Irish?

March 17, 2022

When evolutionary ecologist Marc Johnson, a professor of biology at the University of Toronto, Mississauga, and his team published their Global Urbanization Drives Adaptation in the Plant White Clover research today (March 17, St.

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A newly emerged Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus, an image taken in 2021. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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What's in a Name? Western Tiger Swallowtail

March 16, 2022

It's not "officially" spring until we see--and photograph--the spectacular Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus. That's what I posted April 2, 2021 on Bug Squad after seeing one land March 30 on a white lilac bush in a Vacaville park.

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One of Art Shapiro's monitoring sites is Gates Canyon, Vacaville. Here he looks for butterflies in this image taken on Jan. 25, 2014. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Art Shapiro: Monitoring Butterfly Populations in Central California Since 1972

March 15, 2022

If you missed it, yesterday (March 14) was the annual "National Learn About Butterflies Day." That's the day we're encouraged to "to look for a blur of color as butterflies begin migrating across the country.

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A jumping spider on a yellow rose peers at the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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How Many Spiders Have You Saved Today?

March 14, 2022

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet Eating her curds eating and whey Along came a spider who sat down beside her And frightened Miss Muffet away (English nursery rhyme recorded in 1805) What, Miss Muffet ran away?

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