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

Jay Rosenheim engaged in research at the Jepson Prairie Preserve in 2011. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Jay Rosenheim: Exemplary Teacher, Mentor and Researcher

June 13, 2024

"Jay Rosenheim joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty in 1990. He received his bachelor of science degree from UC Davis in 1983 with a double major in entomology and genetics, and his doctorate in entomology from UC Berkeley in 1987.

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A yellow-face bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, is interrupted by a fast-approaching honey bee as it's nectaring on lavender in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Battle Over the Lavender: Mine, All Mine!

June 12, 2024

A yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, is foraging on lavender in a Vacaville garden. Abruptly, the bumble bee senses a fast-approaching honey bee, Apis mellifera. Bombus: "Hey, bee, this is my territory, my lavender, my food." Honey Bee: "Sorry, I'm just passing by.

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A wooly bear caterpillar on ice plant at Bodega Head. This insect is Arctia virginalis, formerly known as Platyprepia virginalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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The Wooly Bears of Bodega

June 11, 2024

Ever seen the wooly bear caterpillar, Arctia virginalis, formerly known as Platyprepia virginalis? It's found in low elevations in western North America, from southern Monterey Bay, across Nevada and southern Utah to Colorado, and north to southern British Columbia.

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A sweat bee, possibly Halictus tripartitus, foraging on pollen on a tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Finding Pollen on Echium During National Pollinator Month

June 10, 2024

It's National Pollinator Month, and what better time to find a tiny speck of a bee on a seven-foot tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii? This is a sweat bee of the family Halictidae, the second largest family of bees, comprised of some 4500 species.

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A sweat bee, genus Halictus, sailing over a Coreopsis in a Vacaville pollinator garden. June is National Pollinator Month. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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It's Pollinator Month: No Sweat?

June 7, 2024

In the sweltering heat of Solano County (100 degrees) during National Pollinator Month, how about an image of a sweat bee, genus Halictus, a tiny bee that's often overlooked in the world of pollinators. It's a social bee that nests in the soil.

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