Bug Squad

The Sting. (c) Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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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Shades of Shirley Temple, Maybe?

February 16, 2016
Shades of Shirley Temple, maybe? A curly haired tarantula at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis could have been named for...drum roll..Shirley Temple. The curly haired tarantula, or Brachypelma albopilosum, proved a big hit at the Bohart Museum on Saturday, Feb.
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The Story Behind This Bumble Bee Pollen Load

February 15, 2016
What a treat to find not one--but five yellow-faced bumble bees (Bombus vosnesenskii) foraging on a rosemary hedge on Valentine's Day. Feb. 14 was a perfect day for foragers, as the temperature climbed into the '70s, an unusually warm February day. The site: The Glen Cove Marina in Vallejo, Calif.
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Got 'em!

February 12, 2016
"Got 'em!" That's the message we've all been waiting for.
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How Many Overwintering Monarchs in California?

February 11, 2016
There's good news and not-so-good news about the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count in California. Last December the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation released preliminary figures. Now they've announced the final tally: almost 272,000 monarchs (Danaus plexippus).
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