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.

Predator and the prey: Assassin bug (left) corners a pest, a spotted cucumber beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Gotcha!

October 7, 2011

It wasn't much of a fight. The assassin bug scored a TKO. Here's what happened: an assassin bug ambushed a spotted cucumber beetle in the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Faciility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis. It was "good guy vs. bad guy.

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IPM specialist Frank Zalom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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It's Off to Berlin

October 6, 2011

It's off to Berlin for integrated pest management (IPM) specialist Frank Zalom, professor and former vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and soon-to-be-president of the 6000-member Entomological Society of America (ESA) Zalom is one of three Americans invited to speak at an internati...

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Honey bee, packing red pollen from a nearby rock purslane, nectaring lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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A Honey of an Event

October 5, 2011

Did you know that honey bees visit more than two million flowers just to make a pound of honey? Two million visits for one pound? That's just one of the tidbits about honey that will be mentioned Friday, Oct. 21 at the all-day Honey! event at the UC Davis Conference Center, 550 Alumni Center.

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Honey bee foraging on a Mexican sunflower. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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In Between the Rains

October 4, 2011

Mexican sunflowers. Gaillardia. The Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road at the University of California, Davis, is awash with autumn colors, despite the persistent rains.

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Pollen-laden honey bee foraging on a pink African daisy. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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In the Pink: A Backyard Safari

October 3, 2011

You don't have to travel to Africa to go on safari. You can go on a "bug" safari in your own backyard. And you can stay as little or as long as you like without incurring such costs as air travel, hotel stays, and food expenses.

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