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.

This is the ceramic-mosaic sculpture, "Miss Bee Haven," which anchors the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis. It is the work of Davis-based artist Donna Billick. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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'Tis the Season of Giving, and UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day Needs Donor Pledges by Jan. 6

December 30, 2019

'Tis the season of giving, and the ninth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, set for Saturday, Feb. 15, needs donors. Make that "urgently needs donor pledges." The pledge deadline of Jan. 6 looms. The free, science-based public event drew more than 4,000 visitors in 2019.

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Leslie Saul-Gershenz (left) and curator Emma Cluff stand by their display at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Those Incredible Digger Bees and Their Nest Parasites

December 27, 2019

If you want to learn about digger bees and the exciting research that UC Davis evolutionary ecologist Leslie Saul-Gershenz is pursuing, check out the wall display at the Bohart Museum of Entomology.

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A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, in a summer flight in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Suds for a Bug? Get Out Your Net!

December 26, 2019

Suds for a bug? Get out your net! If you collect the first cabbage white butterfly of the year in the three-county area of Sacramento, Solano and Yolo, you'll win a pitcher of beer or its equivalent, compliments of Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology.

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Santa Came

December 25, 2019

Note: This is the shortest Bug Squad blog of the 2972 blogs I've written since Aug. 6, 2008. Santa Came.

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A Gulf Fritillary chrysalis inside the author's car, by the rear window. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Why Our Car Is Chortling 'Merry Chrysalis'

December 24, 2019

Our compact car gathers no reindeer antlers, no Rudoph nose, no Santa hat. Zero, zip, zilch, nada. Our HOUSE exudes Merry Christmas! but our CAR does not.

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