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.

A Valley carpenter bee appears to be "nectar-robbing," drilling a hole through the flower instead of going into the entrance. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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The Lurking Place of the Fairies

April 30, 2014

Foxgloves are called "the lurking place of the fairies." That could be. Foxgloves are also known by their genus name, Digitalis--meaning fingerlike. The genus is native to western and southwestern Europe, western and central Asia, Australasia and northwestern Africa.

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Honey bee packing a load of blue pollen heading for the tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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How Tall Is It?

April 29, 2014

We have this tall plant in our back yard. How tall is it? Tall enough to give weather forecasts. (It's never caught short by a sudden storm.) Tall enough to see over the neighbor's fence to find a missing ball.

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Honey bees in the hands of Pam Kan-Rice. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Bee-ing There and Bee-Lieving in the Bees

April 28, 2014

Just call it a "practice run." Or a "buzz run." Barbara Allen-Diaz, vice president of the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) vowed last year to wear bees if she received at least $2500 in donations for UC student scholarships through the "Promise for Education" fundraising drive.

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Yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, foraging on rock rose. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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A Bad Hair Day

April 25, 2014

"It was a bad hair day," quipped native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis. Yes, it was. A very bad hair day.

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A ladybug foraging on a yellow rose, Sparkle and Shine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Everything's Coming Up Roses

April 24, 2014

UC Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) staff distributed ladybugs (actually lady beetles, but when you say "lady beetles," someone is sure to ask "Aren't those LADYBUGS?") at Briggs Hall during the recent UC Davis Picnic Day. A welcome gift, indeed.

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