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

"Queen Bee" Amina Harris of Z Specialty Food is also the executive director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Nature Day Celebration: Pride of Madeira, Pride of The Hive

March 29, 2022

If you've recently visited the pollinator gardens at The Hive, a family business owned by Z Specialty Food, 1221 Harter Way, Woodland, you've seen the spectacular Pride of Madeira, Echium candicans. Now another "pride" awaits.

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The UC Davis Entomology Games Team is comprised of (from left) Erin "Taylor" Kelly, Madison "Madi" Hendrick, Zachary Griebenow and Jil Oberski. Griebenow and Oberski were members of the 2018 national championship team.

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ESA Entomology Games Are Both Educational and Entertaining

March 28, 2022

Quick question: "Kleptopharmacophagy, a newly described behavior recently observed in milkweed butterflies, is characterized by adult butterflies feeding on milkweed caterpillars.

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An eggcase or ootheca warming on a clothespin in Vacaville, Calif. This is from a Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Ooh, an Ooth! And on a Clothespin, at That!

March 25, 2022

No doubt you've seen a praying mantis egg case, or ootheca, on a tree, shrub, fence or post. But have you ever seen one attached to a clothespin on an outdoor clothes line? So here we were Thursday afternoon, hanging freshly laundered dog blankets on the clothes line.

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This specimen from the Bohart Museum of Entomology is a mammoth wasp, Trisciloa saussurei, a native of New Guinea. (Photo by Ziad Khouri)

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Ziad Khouri: Zeroing in on Mammoth Wasps, the Scoliid Wasps

March 24, 2022

International doctoral student Ziad Khouri, who studies with major professor, UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, will share his research on mammoth wasps, the scoliid wasps, at a seminar hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology on Wednesday, March 30.

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Bees will be among the spring seminar topics hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. UC Irvine faculty member Tobin Hammer will speak on "Mystery of the Missing Microbes: Why Do Bees Keep Losing Their Symbionts?" (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Seminar Topics: From Mammoth Wasps to Medflies to Nematodes

March 23, 2022

Ready to learn about mammoth wasps, medflies, nematodes and pesticide risks to polilnators, or delve into such topics as "Mystery of the Missing Microbes: Why Do Bees Keep Losing Their Symbionts?

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