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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. (Photo by Anthony Cornel)
Article

Tackling a Massive Killer

March 2, 2012
It's good to see that the UC Davis campus will host its sixth annual World Malaria Day observance. This year's event, set Wednesday, April 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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Yellow-faced bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii) foraging on the Pride of Maderia at Bodega Bay on Feb. 27. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Bumble Bees Are Back!

March 1, 2012
The yellow-faced bumble bees are back! And amid the throes of winter and the promise of spring. On a trip Feb. 27 to Bodega Bay, we spotted two yellow-faced bumble bees (Bombus vosnesenskii) about two miles apart.
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Honey bee working an almond blossom on the grounds of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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How Many Hives for Almond Pollination?

February 29, 2012
We've been watching the almonds budding and blossoming since late January. They're in full bloom now, but a little ragged by the recent rain. California has some 750,000 acres of almonds, and it takes two hives per acre to pollinate them.
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Where's the walking stick? It's the top "twig" in the background. This is a female. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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A Case of Identity Theft

February 28, 2012
Just call it a case of identity theft at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. But wait! Before you ask "Is everything okay?" and suggest contacting law enforcement immediately, not to worry. This is a different case of identity theft. Insects! Camouflaged insects! Take the walking stick.
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Blow fly on a New Zealand tea tree (Leptospermum scoparium). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Pollinator!

February 27, 2012
When you see the blow fly (below), what do you think? Well, that depends on who you are and what you do--or maybe your earliest negative/positive insect recollections.
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