Bug Squad

The Sting. (c) Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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 honey bee encounters a velvety tree ant. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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The Bee and the Ant

May 29, 2013
Lavender. Honey bees love it. We watched a honey bee foraging on lavender blossoms last weekend, when an ant appeared on the scene. The ant? A worker of Liometopum occidentale (velvety tree ant), according to ant specialist Phil Ward, professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis.
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Honey bee covered with pollen; she is on a yellow coneflower, Echinacea paradoxa. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Pollen Power

May 27, 2013
Bees carry pollen in their pollen baskets, but that's not the only place.
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No-see-um, 70 times life size. (Illustration by Lynn Kimsey)
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No-See-Ums, But You Feel 'Em

May 24, 2013
It happened unexpectedly. Tabatha Yang and her six-month-old son, Karoo, were sitting on their lawn last Sunday at their West Davis home, when she saw red. Literally. One minute they were enjoying the springlike weather, and the next minute his head was covered with bright red dots.
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A backlit honey bee heads for a pomegranate blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Promenade in the Pomegranates

May 23, 2013
What a match--honey bees and pomegranate blossoms. Watching the golden bees forage amid the brilliant red blossoms in the late afternoon is a delight to see, especially when the sun backlights them. The ancient fruit, native to Iran, is one of the world's first cultivated fruits.
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