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.

Butterfly expert Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, talks pollinators with Amina Harris, director of the Honey and Pollination Center. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Countdown in the Good Life Garden

May 9, 2014

Did you count pollinators on Thursday, May 8? That was "Be a Scientist Day," sponsored by the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' Day of Science and Service to commemorate 100 years of Cooperative Extension.

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Sharon Payne, superintendent of the Today's Youth Building at the Dixon May Fair, stands by a 6-year-old's bug exhibit, which won a blue ribbon and best of show. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Bugs Galore at Dixon May Fair

May 8, 2014

There are bugs galore at the Dixon May Fair, which opened today (Thursday, May 8) and continues through Sunday, May 11. The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology is showcasing insects in the Floriculture Building, where displays include a bee observation hive from the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.

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Beekeeper Brian Fishback shows students at Lake Canyon Elementary School, Galt, a frame of bees. (Photo by Beth Bartkowski)

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Bee-ing a Part of the Solution

May 7, 2014

This is a story about a third-grade classroom in Galt, Calif., that loves honey bees. It's also a story about a beekeeper named Brian Fishback of Wilton who eagerly taught them to love bees. Fishback, a former volunteer at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.

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A crane fly lands on a stucco wall. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Not a 'Mosquito Hawk'

May 6, 2014

Some folks call them "bugsy" or "mosquito hawks" or "skeeter eaters" "flying daddy longlegs." They may look like Texas-sized mosquitoes but they're not mosquitoes. Neither do they eat mosquitoes. They're crane flies in the order Diptera, family Tipulidae. And they're found worldwide.

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A male longhorned bee, Melissodes communis, as identified by native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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'Bee a Scientist' on May 8

May 5, 2014

Get ready! It's almost time to count the pollinators! The University of California's Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) wants you set aside three minutes on Thursday, May 8 and count the pollinators wherever you live--and they live--in California.

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