Bug Squad

Looking for a specific Blog post?

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.

LADYBUG--You should treat the ladybug with kid gloves; it's a beneficial insect. Here a ladybug, aka lady beetle, crawls on a gardener's glove. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Christmas Bug

December 24, 2008

If there ever were a Christmas bug, it would be the ladybug, aka lady beetle. The insects (family Coccinellidae) are brightly colored and spread joy in the garden when they feast on aphids. Last summer we enjoyed watching them hanging out and hooking up.

View Article

A HONEY OF A BEE--Newly published research in the journal Current Biology finds that the buzz of honey bee wings scares off plant predators, like caterpillars. This bee is gathering nectar from a guara. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Superman, Meet the Super Girls

December 23, 2008

You're sitting around discussing the importance of honey bees. The points include: they give us honey, they pollinate agricultural crops, and they serve as an example of a well-organized society. But wait, there's more. They scare off plant predators.

View Article

DOUBLE VISION?--Keep your eyes open for a cabbage white butterfly in California's Central Valley (Sacramento, Solano or Yolo counties). UC Davis professor Arthur Shapiro will trade a pitcher of beer for the first cabbage white of 2009. This photo was taken Sept. 7, 2008. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Beer for a Butterfly

December 22, 2008

Seen any cabbage whites lately? If you capture one before UC Davis professor Arthur Shapiro does, he'll trade you a beer for your butterfly. Actually, a pitcher of beer or its cash equivalent. Yes, it's time for Shapiro's 38th annual Butterfly-for-Beer contest.

View Article

HMMMM--Randy Veirs of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, admires the ladybug cupcakes his wife made for the entomology office. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Eat a Bug

December 19, 2008

You CAN have your cake and eat it, too. You can also "have your BUG and eat it, too." Even if you're not into entomophagy.

View Article

PROTECTIVE GEAR--Beekeepers wear protective gear to ward off bee stings. Here UC Davis beekeeper Kim Fondrk tends his bees. These are not Africanized bees (as mentioned in the text above), but European or Western honey bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Run for Cover

December 18, 2008

Who put the killer in killer bees? Someone named B. Melon asked that question on the Strange but True segment of the Web site, readthehook.com. To answer the bee question, Bill Sones and Rich Sones did what many do.

View Article