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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE QUEEN--The queen bee (center) lays about 2000 eggs a day during the peak season. Here she's surrounded by worker bees (infertile females). (Photo courtesy of Susan Cobey, Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis)
Article

What Has Five Eyes, Six Legs and Two Pairs of Wings?

December 16, 2008
What has five eyes, six legs, two pairs of wings and can fly about 20 miles per hour? Got to be an insect, right? Right. But which one? More hints: Its been around for 30 million years. Its primary form of communication is a chemical called a pheromone. Well, that could be Okay, now it gets easier.
View Article
THE BEES--Honey bees are the good insects. Here UC Davis bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey looks at a healthy frame of bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

We're Outnumbered

December 15, 2008
Were outnumbered. Plain as day. And theyre not going away. The estimated ratio of insects to humans is 200 million to one, say Iowa State University entomologists Larry Pedigo and Marlin Rice in their newly published (sixth edition) textbook, Entomology and Pest Management.
View Article
SEEING RED--A blood-fed mosquito on a researcher's arm. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Going Green, Seeing Red

December 12, 2008
We're in a recession, but the mosquitoes aren't. The mortgage meltdown and the resulting green swimming pools are perfect breeding sites for mosquitoes, which can transmit the deadly West Nile virus (WNV). So far this year WNV has sickened 411 Californians, killing 13.
View Article
POSTER CHILD--This poster, designed by UC Davis entomology doctoral candidate Fran Keller with photographs by Greg Kareofelas of Davis, shows the California state insect, the dogface butterfly. The male (top) is known as "the flying pansy." The female (bottom) is mostly yellow. The poster received praise from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in April. Now it's received more acclaim. (See story above).
Article

Poster Child

December 11, 2008
It's a high-flying butterfly--rarely seen and rarely recognized. Ironically, it's now down-to-earth, frequently seen, and frequently recognized, thanks to the Internet.
View Article
THE DEAD BEE--Worker bees prepare to remove their dead sister (far left) from the hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

A Hymn for Her

December 10, 2008
Did you catch the "The Burns and the Bees" episode on The Simpsons Sunday night? Dead honey bees take over the otherwise animated TV show. Bart, on a dare from schoolyard bullies, knocks a bee's nest from a tree and it lands kerplop on the playground.
View Article
Subscribe