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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Turrets of digger bees on sand dunes of Bodega Bay. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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UC Davis: All A'Buzz With Bee Nests and Art

August 12, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Video caption:  This bumble bee mimic, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, is a digger bee building her nest in a sand dune on Bodega Head, Sonoma County. (Video by Kathy Keatley Garvey)You won't want to miss this!Create art and learn about native bees and their nests at the same time!UC Davis…
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A queen bee laying eggs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Find the Queen!

August 11, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Question: "Can you find the queen? She's in here with the worker bees and drones. The worker bees are the girls and the drones are the boys." Chlld: "What does the queen look like? Is she wearing a crown?""No, she's wearing a number!"Child:"I see her! There she is! I found her!"Finding the queen…
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Honey bee pollinating strawberry. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Introducing Bees to Children

August 8, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 The UC Davis-based California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMBP) staffed three tables at the Vacaville Museum Guild's annual children's party to introduce "the wonderful world of bees" to children ages 3 to 9.CAMBP members displayed a bee observation hive and encouraged them to "find the queen'; answered…
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Chemical ecologist Jeff Aldrich
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Impact of Life Work of Jeff Aldrich Continues to Unfold

August 7, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 The impact of the life work of renowned chemical ecologist Jeff Aldrich (1949-2025) continues to unfold.Aldrich, a research entomologist at USDA-ARS from 1980 to 2011, who then worked with UC Davis  Department of Entomology and Nematology researchers for a decade, died June 28 at age 75 in Fort…
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Chemical ecologist Jeffrey Aldrich working in Japan in the lab of Walter Leal. (Photo by Walter Leal)
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The Incredible Life of Chemical Ecologist Jeffrey Richard Aldrich

August 6, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Tributes are pouring in for renowned chemical ecologist Jeffrey Richard Aldrich (1949-2025), a longtime researcher at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center,  USDA Agricultural Research Service, who retired in 2011 and then worked with UC Davis researchers for a decade.Aldrich was considered…
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