Bug Squad

The Sting. (c) Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Looking for a specific Blog post?
Search Now
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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LYGUS BUG, a serious pest of such crops as cotton, alfalfa and strawberries, is also commonly found in the garden. This one is on lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Looking for Lygus

September 30, 2010
Frances Sivakoff knows a lygus bug when she sees one. Sivakoff (right), a doctoral candidate in the UC Davis Department of Entomology, won a 2010 Robert and Peggy van den Bosch Memorial Scholarship for her work on the regional movement of the pest.
View Article
FIERY SKIPPER (Hylephila phyleus) in a jet-fighter position on sedum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Skippers and Sedum

September 29, 2010
Skippers and sedum. Sedum and skippers. A perfect match. The flower, sedum (family Crassulaceae), and the fiery skipper butterfly (Hylephila phyleus, family Hesperlidae) make a stunning autumn photo. When late afternoon sun strikes its fighter-jet wings, it glows brilliantly.
View Article
HONEY BEE forages on Joe-Pye Weed, a perennial that blooms in the late summer and early fall. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Pye in the Eye

September 28, 2010
You gotta love the Joe-Pye Weed. It's a shady character and a late bloomer. That is, it loves the shade and blooms in the late summer and early fall. Better yet, bees and butterflies love it. Once you hear the distinctive name, Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum) you'll never forget it.
View Article
REDHUMPED CATERPILLARS dining on a leaf of a redbud tree. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

This Red(bud's) for You

September 27, 2010
There's a whole lot of crunchin' going on. The redhumped caterpillar has discovered our redbud tree, which it considers an "all-you-can" buffet. Now this is a voracious eater on the same scale of a fellow named Joey "Jaws" Chestnut. Seconds? Yes, please. Thirds? Of course. Fourths? Definitely.
View Article
Subscribe