Bug Squad

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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.

EARLY RISER--Black-tail bumble bee (Bombus melanopygus) forages at 9:30 a.m., Friday, March 4 in ceanothus at the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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A Welcome Visitor

March 4, 2011

At first I thought it was a yellow-faced bumble bee. Sort of like applying the adage, "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." That's because most of the bumble bees I see are the yellow-faced bumble bees (Bombus vosnesenskii).

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BUTTERFLY GURU Art Shapiro, outside his office at Storer Hall, UC Davis campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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The Butterfly Man

March 3, 2011

Move over, Justin Bieber. Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis, says he's now a "cover boy," too. Shapiro is featured in the current edition of Sacramento News & Review.

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CREMATOGASTER ANTS--Myrmecologist or ant specialist Bonnie Blaimer studies theses ants in Madagascar. “This genus fascinates me particularly because of its species diversity and dominance in tropical forests, and its intriguing natural history,” she says. “Most species are canopy-nesting in dead twigs and branches or under bark, or they make elaborate independent carton-nest from wood fibers. Some species are suspected to be temporary social parasites, and many tend scale insects or mealybugs." (Photo by B

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In Pursuit of Ants

March 2, 2011

Just call it the ABC of ants. (A) Ants, (B) Bonnie Blaimer and (C) Crematogaster. Add a double "M" and you have a myrmecologist studying ants in Madagascar.

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SOAPBERRY BUG scrambles up a tree at UC Davis. Biologist Hugh Dingle, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, studies soapberry bugs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Don't Say the "R" Word

March 1, 2011

For being "retired," Hugh Dingle is one busy scientist. Dingle, an emeritus professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology, recently returned to Davis after living in Australia for seven years and doing research at the University of Brisbane, Australia.

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HONEY BEE forages in a nectarine blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Pollen Power

February 28, 2011

Cool temperatures and honey bees do not a good team make. Since honey bees don't forage until temperatures hit 50 to 55 degrees, we haven't seen many bees gathering pollen from our nectarine trees. If you love nectarines, there's a lot to love.

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