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.

A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, nectaring on a spiked floral purple plant, Salvia indigo spires (Salvia farinacea x S. farinacea). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Bee My Valentine!

February 14, 2019

Remember receiving valentine cards that read "Bee My Valentine?" Well, every day can be Valentine's Day when there are bees in your garden.

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A six-foot-long mosaic and ceramic sculpture, Miss Beehaven, anchors the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. It is the work of Donna Billick of Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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See Bugs, Bees and Nematodes on UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day

February 13, 2019

It's going to be a long weekend, but it's a short one when you consider all the things you can do and see at the eighth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 16. Bring your family. Bring your friends. Bring your camera.

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Close-up of a gravid tsetse fly (Glossina morsitans morsitans). (Photo by Geoffrey Attardo)

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Tsetse Flies: Who Knew?

February 12, 2019

Did you read the article in today's New York Times about tsetse flies and the scientists who research them? Totally fascinating.

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Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart Museum, holds some of the Morpho specimens. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Oh, the Butterflies You'll See at the Bohart During UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day

February 11, 2019

Oh, the butterflies you'll see at the Bohart Museum of Entomology during the eighth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 16.

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Ernesto Sandoval, collections manager for the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, checks out the cacao tree, aka "chocolate tree." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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If You Like Chocolate, Thank the Midges!

February 8, 2019

If you like chocolate, thank the midges. These tiny flies (about 1 to 3mm) pollinate the intricate flowers of the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao. From those seed pods, known as cocoa beans, come the chocolate that we crave. In fact, we Americans consume 2.

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