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

Colonial Isoxya manangona n. sp. from Andasibe, Madagascar. (a) A part of a colony with 79 spiders in 41 webs (image shows 23 webs). (b) A detail from another colony where females are in their individual webs (image shows 14 of the 16 webs in the colony) while males hang on line in between webs (image shows 12 males). (c) A detail of another colony showing male leks. These males showed no overt intrasexual aggression that would be typical of solitary spiders. (Insect Systematics and Diversity)

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UC Davis Spider Experts Analyze Genetics of Newly Described Spider That Engages in Lekking Behavior

April 6, 2023

Have you heard about the newly described kite spider species in Madagascar that is drawing worldwide attention for its lekking behavior?

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A honey bee foraging on a California golden poppy. Urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke is one of the researchers involved in the Seed Pile Project, a community science initiative by Miridae Living Labs and UC Davis faculty. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Emily Meineke: An Incredible and Well-Deserved Honor

April 5, 2023

It's an incredible and well-deserved honor. UC Davis urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke has been selected an Early Career Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA).

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Britanny Kohler, then a member of the UC Davis Entomology Club, works the roach race track in this 2022 image. She is a UC Davis alumna and a research associate at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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What's a Picnic Without Bugs?

April 4, 2023

What's a picnic without bugs? UC Davis entomologists--students, faculty, staff and emeriti--will set up educational and entertaining displays at the 109th annual UC Davis Picnic Day, set Saturday, April 15.

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Congrats to 4 Outstanding UC Davis Student Entomologists: Recipients of NSF-GRFP Grants

April 3, 2023

Congratulations to the four student entomologists in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology who won National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF-GRFP) grants, a record high achievement for the department.

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A honey bee forages on a lacy phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) in the Joseph and Emma Lin Biological Orchard and Garden (BOG) at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Phacelia! You're Breaking My Heart!

March 31, 2023

Cecelia, you're breaking my heart You're shaking my confidence daily... --"Oh, Cecelia" written by Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkle If you think of the song, "Oh, Cecelia,' every time you pronounce Phacelia (the plant), you're not alone.

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