Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay

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UC ANR is renovating its website. 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/blogcore/archive.cfm

A yellow-faced Bombus vosnesenskii, prepares to sip nectar from an English lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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The Return of Bombus

June 6, 2023

The English lavender drew her in. And there she was, a yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging in our family's pollinator garden in Vacaville. She buzzed from blossom to blossom, ignoring the honey bees, syrphid flies and...the photographer. Ms.

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The yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. (Photo courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

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Taylor Kelly's Exit Seminar: Targeting Yellow Fever Mosquito and Pyrethroid Resistance

June 5, 2023

Remember back in 2013 when scientists verified the reintroduction of the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, in California? Infected mosquitoes can transmit such viruses as yellow fever, dengue and Zika. Alarm bells went off.

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As a third grader, Jill Oberski is stretched out on the floor reading her "Audubon Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America." Another insect publication is within reach.

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Myrmecologist Jill Oberski: A Dream Come True

June 2, 2023

Picture this. Jill Oberski is in the third grade, stretched out on the classroom floor reading her "Audubon Field Guide to Insects and Spiders of North America." Another insect publication is within reach. Fast forward to today: she's Dr. Jill Oberski.

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UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert "Bob" Kimsey answering questions at his "Dr. Death" booth in Briggs Hall during the 2023 UC Davis Picnic Day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Don't Miss This Bohart Museum Open House on 'Insects and Forensics'

June 1, 2023

He's a wealth of information about forensic entomology, and he'll share that with you. Don't miss the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on "Insects and Forensics," featuring UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert Bob Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

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UC Davis first-year entomology student Kat Taylor (in ant headgear) staffed the arts-and-crafts table at the Bohart Museum open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Colony of Red Ants Roams the Bohart Museum of Entomology

May 31, 2023

A colony of red ants recently roamed the Bohart Museum of Entomology. They really weren't red ants, but children wearing ant headgear, created during the family arts-and-crafts activity at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house on ants.

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