Bug Squad

The Sting. (c) Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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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/bugsquad/index.cfm. The story behind "The Sting" is here: https://my.ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7735.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This catch-and-release activity is especially popular among children in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. They catch, examine and release bees, including honey bees, bumble bees and carpenter bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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'Bee There' Saturday at the UC Davis Bee Garden

September 18, 2018
Want to learn more about bees, and what to plant to attract them to your garden? The Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee garden operated by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will host an open house, the last one of 2018, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22.
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Don't bug me, I'm trying to wake up. This female Valley carpenter bee, Xylocopa varipuncta, peers over a blue spike salvia (Salvia uliginosa) blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Valley Carpenter Bees: Drama in the Garden

September 14, 2018
Some folks call them "bumble bees," but they're not. In size, the female Valley carpenter bee (Xylocopa varipuncta) resembles a bumble bee, but certainly not in color. The female Valley carpenter is solid black with metallic wings.
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Mantidflies use their front legs to catch small insect prey. This one was collected by John De Benedictis at the UC Davis Stebbens Cold Canyon Reserve. (Snapshot by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Ever Seen a Mantidfly?

September 12, 2018
Ever seen a mantidfly, also called a mantisfly? Bohart Museum of Entomology associate John De Benedictis, aka "Moth Man," brought a mantidfly, an insect that's parasitic to spiders, to the museum on Tuesday.
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