Bug Squad

The Sting. (c) Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A honey bee nectaring in the UC Davis Bee Haven. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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UC Davis Bee Haven: The Place to 'Bee'

August 15, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 The UC Davis Bee Haven is the place to "bee."If you love bees and other pollinators, love plants, love nature, and love to volunteer, you'll want to head over to the The Haven--a pollinator paradise--on Saturday, Aug. 30. It's the last Volunteer Day of the summer, and will take place from 8 to 11:30 a…
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A praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, waiting for a bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Ms. Mantis Missed!

August 14, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
     Yesterday we introduced you to Ms. Mantis, a young Stagmomantis limbata perched on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundiola. She was seeking a “fast food” meal of a bee or a butterfly, but they were much too fast for her.Today we observed her on a different blossom, ready to try…
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Praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, waiting for lunch. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Ms. Mantis Waiting for Lunch

August 13, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
  Bee and butterflies love the patch of Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia rotundifola) in our Vacaville garden.For several months now, they've been buzzing and fluttering around the six-to-eight-foot-high plants, sipping nectar and returning for more.  It's a serene place for pollinators except for…
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Turrets of digger bees on sand dunes of Bodega Bay. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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UC Davis: All A'Buzz With Bee Nests and Art

August 12, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Video caption:  This bumble bee mimic, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, is a digger bee building her nest in a sand dune on Bodega Head, Sonoma County. (Video by Kathy Keatley Garvey)You won't want to miss this!Create art and learn about native bees and their nests at the same time!UC Davis…
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A queen bee laying eggs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Find the Queen!

August 11, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Question: "Can you find the queen? She's in here with the worker bees and drones. The worker bees are the girls and the drones are the boys." Chlld: "What does the queen look like? Is she wearing a crown?""No, she's wearing a number!"Child:"I see her! There she is! I found her!"Finding the queen…
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