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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A soldier beetle sunning itself on a yellow rose petal. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Just Soldiering On...

July 4, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 The British are coming! The British are coming!The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere?No, just soldier beetles, family Cantharidae, scrambling for aphids.Soldier beetles are so named because they sport a color pattern reminiscent of the British soldiers who battled The Thirteen Colonies (then known as "Great…
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Stink bugs on a zinnia in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Stink Bugs Suck

July 3, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 It seems like a good day to post images of stink bugs..We spotted a pair of stink bugs on our zinnias "keeping busy" today.They suck. Truly.Stink bugs are shield-shaped sucking insects, family Pentatomidae, and California is home to more than 50 stink bug species. How did they get their name? When…
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Attack on Science blog
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Illuminating the Attack on Science

July 2, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 If you missed the July 1st UC Davis-based webinar, "Beyond the Headlines: The Invisible Power of Academic Research in America," featuring Nobel Laureate Randy Schekman of UC Berkeley and other Nobel Laureates and two dozen other scholars, not to worry.The webinar is on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Tq5…
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A stick insect at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis.
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A UC Davis Scientist's Thoughts About the Future of Science

July 1, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 You may know UC Davis Professor Jason Bond  of the Department of Entomology and Nematology,He's the Evett and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair of Insect Systematics; the director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology; associate dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences,…
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UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal
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The Nobel Laureates and 'The Invisible Power of Academic Research'

June 30, 2025
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
 Federal funding of scientific research in our academic institutions is in jeopardy, but interest is swelling for the UC Davis-based webinar,  “Beyond the Headlines: The Invisible Power of Academic Research,” set from 1 to 3 p.m., Tuesday, July 1 (Pacific Time).Today UC Davis Distinguished…
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