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 syrphid fly, probably a Syrphus opinator, warms its flight muscles in the Ruth Risdon Storer Garden, part of the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Hello, Friday Fly Day!

August 26, 2022

Hello, Friday Fly Day! It's time to post an image of syrphid fly, aka hover fly or flower fly. We took this dorsal view of a syrphid fly in January of 2009.

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Close-up image of cells in an abandoned hive; colony collapse disorder suspected. Note the bee antenna near the center. And the mold. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Remember "BSI: The Case of the Disappearing Bees?"

August 25, 2022

Remember the alarm, the anxiety and the agony when news first surfaced about colony collapse disorder (CCD)?

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UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal is the sixth UC Davis faculty member to be be named Honorary Member of the Entomological Society of America. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Congrats to Three Outstanding Entomologists

August 24, 2022

Congratulations to the three newly selected Honorary Members of the Entomological Society of America (ESA): UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal, UC Davis-educated Melody Keena, a research entomologist with the U.S.

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This monarch, tagged by one of David James' citizen scientists in Ashland, Ore., on Aug. 26, 2018, fluttered into a Vacaville pollinator garden on Sept. 5, 2016. "It flew 285 miles in 7 days or about 40.7 miles per day," James related. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Learn About Monarchs at Western Monarch Summit in San Luis Obispo

August 23, 2022

If you're a monarch butterfly scientist, a researcher, a citizen scientist, a conservationist, or just an aficionado, mark your calendar. The 2023 International Western Monarch Summit will take place Friday through Sunday, Jan. 20-22 at Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, and registration is now underway.

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A lady beetle prepares for take-off in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Flight of the Lady Beetle

August 22, 2022

Have you ever seen a lady beetle, aka ladybird beetle, aka ladybug, take flight? Have you ever photographed it? It's early morning, Aug. 20. A lady beetle is snacking on aphids on our native milkweed plant (where the monarchs are supposed to be, but aren't!).

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