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

Honey bees can't get enough of the tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii. The plant yields both nectar and pollen. The pollen is blue. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Tower of Jewels: Christmas in May?

May 14, 2021

Christmas in May? When it's in full bloom, the aptly named "tower of jewels," Echium wildpretii, which can tower as high as 10 feet, looks very much like a Christmas tree. Think of the brilliant red blossoms as red bells. Native to the island of Tenerife, it belongs to the family Boraginaceae.

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Inside a hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Veterinarians Registering Now for UC Davis-OSU Honey Bee Health Course

May 13, 2021

If you're a veterinarian or a veterinary technician in California or Oregon, then you'll want to register for a free online bee biology course aimed at training veterinarians in their new role in supporting beekeepers and maintaining the health of bee colonies.

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This is a screen shot of Lauren Ponisio in a CBS Los Angeles video, "Bee Biologist Can't Stop Buzzing About Her Work." CBS wrote that she "puts science, technology and math to work in her study of bees."

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Bee Biologist Lauren Ponisio: How Pyrodiversity Impacts Pollinator Communities

May 12, 2021

How does pyrodiversity impact pollinator communities? That's a crucial question, especially with California's history and future of disastrous wildfires. Last year was the state's worst fire season ever: 9,639 fires burned 4.

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Photographer Allan Jones found this cicada in the Ruth Risdon Storer Garden of the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden several years ago. It appears to be a Okanagana arboraria, according to Louie Yang of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty. (Photo by Allan Jones)

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Cicadas: The World Awaits the Emergence of Brood X

May 11, 2021

Scientists say that within several weeks, trillions of cicadas from Brood X will emerge in 15 eastern-central states of our nation, from Georgia to New York.

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A painted lady, Vanessa cardui, flutters away in this prize-winning work of artist Roberto Valdez. He won best of show in the professional fine arts category, oils and acrylics, at the 2021 Dixon May Fair.

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Art Imitating Life or Life Imitating Art?

May 10, 2021

Does art imitate life or life imitate art? Oscar Wilde opined in his 1889 essay, The Decay of Lying: An Observation, that "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life." It's up for discussion. Take the painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui.

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