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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Around 6 p.m., April 1, the bee swarm at the Starner home looked like this. (Photo by the Craig and Shelly Hunt family)
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The Bees-Ness of the Bees

April 5, 2021
The bee swarm touched down April 1, settling near the wind chimes on her patio roof. "I saw the swarm when I looked out the window," said Vacaville resident Lynn Starner. She watched dozens of bees buzzing toward the cluster.
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A Western tiger swallowtail, missing part of its tails, nectars March 30 on a lilac bush at a Vacaville park. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Hello, Spring! Welcome, Western Tiger Swallowtail!

April 2, 2021
Hello, spring! It's not "officially" spring until we see--and photograph--the spectacular Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus. One landed March 30 on an aromatic white lilac bush in Alamo Creek Park, Vacaville. It lingered long enough for a few photos and then fluttered away.
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Bob Peterson: 'That's Not Normal for Any Insect'

April 1, 2021
If you missed entomologist Robert Peterson's outstanding virtual seminar on "Tigers in Yellowstone National Park: Adaptations of Insects to Extreme Environments," presented March 31 to the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, not to worry. It's on YouTube at https://youtu.
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