Bug Squad

The Sting. (c) Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Light brown apple moth, female. (Photo courtesy of David Williams, principal scientist, Perennial Horticulture, Department of Primary Industries, Victoria, Australia.)
Article

Ain't No Moths on Me

September 1, 2008
Bam! LBAM is back in the news. The California Department of Food and Agriculture announced Aug. 29 that it has established a 19-square-mile quarantine straddling portions of two counties after the light brown apple moth (LBAM) was found July 23 in Napa County and Aug. 10 in Sonoma County.
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Xena the Warrior Princess is a feline entomologist. She specializes in butterflies and sphinx moths. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Big on Butterflies

August 29, 2008
Our cat is an entomologist. She has no formal training in the science of insects, but she can catch insects with the best of 'em. Plus, her credentials include a butterfly mark on her leg. Xena the Warrior Princess is a rescue cat.
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A praying mantis snares a pipevine swallowtail butterfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Let Us Prey

August 28, 2008
Robert Bugg saw it first. That's entomologist Robert L. Bugg. Bugg, who received his doctorate in entomology at UC Davis, does research on the biological control of insect pests; cover crops; and restoration ecology. And he saw it first. Look, he said.
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A California lady beetle, aka ladybug, spreads her wings to dry after a near-drowning in a swimming pool. The lady beetle is a beneficial insect. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Fly Away Home

August 27, 2008
We netted the floundering California lady beetle (Coccinella californica) aka "lady bug," from our swimming pool. She didn't look like the familiar lady beetle, reddish orange with black spots. One spot was all she had. And little life left.
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Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito laying eggs. (Photo by Samuel Woo, UC Davis)
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Heaven-Scent

August 26, 2008
Whew, that stinks! If you've ever smelled a mosquito gravid trap, you know it's not heaven-scent. This isn't about the aroma of summer roses or the whiff of freshly baked cinnamon rolls or the fragrance of vanilla-laced skin cream. No. This is something that stinks to high heaven.
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