Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primary Image
A robber fly peers at the camera. This is Mallophora sp., as identified by robber (assassin) fly expert Charlotte H. E. Alberts, a UC Davis doctoral candidate who studies these insects. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

If It's Friday, It Must Be...

August 19, 2022
If it's Friday, it must be Friday Fly Day. The calendar crawls slowly sometime, but its numbers do not lie. It's Friday Fly Day, all right, which means it's a good day to post an image of a fly, this time a robber fly.
View Article
Primary Image
Green legs of this male praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, are camouflaged in this patch of African blue basil. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Green Legs and Bam!

August 17, 2022
Have you ever seen a green-legged praying mantis on a green leaf? Praying mantis expert Lohitashwa "Lohit" Garikipati, identified this species as a subadult male, Stagmomantis limbata, perched in a patch of African blue basil in our family's pollinator garden.
View Article
Primary Image
A honey bee packing pollen on a UC Davis almond tree. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Registration Now Underway for Almond Board of California Conerence

August 16, 2022
The Almond Board of California (ABC) just announced that registration is now underway for its 50th annual Almond Conference, set Dec. 6-8 at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center in downtown Sacramento. It's a gathering of folks from both the almond and bee industries and beyond.
View Article
Primary Image
Native bees foraging on capeweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Foraging on Capeweed

August 15, 2022
Honey bees and native bees love capeweed, Arctotheca calendula, also called South African capeweed, cape dandelion and cape marigold or cape gold.
View Article