Bug Squad

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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.

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Bumble Bee Mellowing Out on the Mallow

January 4, 2017

Nice to see you! That's how we greeted our very last bumble bee of 2016. The yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, apparently came out of hibernation and started nectaring on mallow Nov. 14 at the Natural Bridges State Park, Santa Cruz.

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Carpenter Bee: Beneficial Insect or Pest?

January 3, 2017

Let's face it--some folks are not fond of carpenter bees. Honey bees, yes! Bumble bees, yes! Carpenter bees, uhh, not so much.

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A Look Back at 2016: Monarch Butterflies Reigned

January 2, 2017

What a marvelous year! Looking back at 2016, monarch butterflies reigned supreme--or at least they did in this Bug Squad blog! Finding--and photographing--a tagged monarch butterfly (monarch@wsu.edu A6083) in our pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif. on Labor Day, Sept. 5, highlighted the year.

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Our Story Begins with Eight Monarch Caterpillars in the Dead of Winter

December 30, 2016

This is a story about how eight monarch butterflies escaped the freezing temperatures of Vacaville, Calif., and hitchhiked to sunny Santa Cruz, thanks to Good Samaritans (Good Monarcharians?) Rita LeRoy and Walter Rockholt of Vallejo.

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A Beer for a Butterfly or 'Suds for a Bug'

December 29, 2016

It's almost that time againtime for the annual Beer for a Butterfly contest or Suds for a Bug. If you're out and about on Jan. 1, start looking for that cabbage white butterfly.

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