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

The Mediterranean Fruit Fly, aka medfly, will be one of the topics when UC Davis distinguished professor James R. Carey presents a seminar on May 25. (Photo by Jack Kelly Clark, UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM), UC Agriculture and Natural Resources)

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'Carey's Equality' Explained--and Much, Much More

May 23, 2022

Ever heard of Carey's Equality? Do you know who discovered it? That would be UC Davis distinguished professor James R. Carey of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, who will present a departmental seminar at 4:10 p.m.

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A honey bee heading for the tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Celebrating World Bee Day with the California Master Beekeeper Program

May 20, 2022

It's World Bee Day! How did that come about? One word: Slovenia. The Republic of Slovenia, rich in beekeeping history, asked the United Nations to proclaim an annual World Bee Day, and following a three-year international effort, the United Nations agreed to do so in December 2017.

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A female Habropoda miserabilis in flight at Bodega Head on May 9. This silver digger bee was heading for mustard and wild radish. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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A Silver Digger Bee in Flight at Bodega Head

May 19, 2022

So there we were, checking out the bumble bee mimics (Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana) on May 9 at Bodega Head, Sonoma County, and along buzzes a pollen-packing Habropoda miserabilis, the bee that UC Davis doctoral alumnus Leslie Saul-Gershenz studies.

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A digger bee, bumble bee mimic Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, warming its flight muscles on Bodega Head on May 9, 2022. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Those Bumble Bee Mimics at Bodega Head

May 18, 2022

If you've ever been to Bodega Head in Sonoma County, you may have marveled at the waves crashing and the whales surfacing. But have you ever seen the digger bees, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, aka bumble bee mimics, that nest in the sandstone cliffs? They're there.

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A lady beetle, aka ladybug, devouring oleander aphids. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Ag Pests, Spiders, and California Dogface Butterflies Stealing the Spotlights

May 17, 2022

Want to learn more about those insect pests that ravage our crops? Curious about spiders and their ecological roles? Ever heard of the California dogface butterfly, which the California State Legislature designated at the state insect 50 years ago? You're in luck.

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