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 digger bee, Habropoda pallida, with blister beetle larvae. (Photo by Leslie Saul-Gershenz)

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Bees, Parasites and Maybe the End?

October 30, 2013

Thursday, Nov. 7 promises to be an exciting day for the Northern California Entomology Society--a great presentation by UC Davis evolutionary ecologist Leslie Saul-Gershenz, who researches how blister beetle nest parasites cooperate to mimic the sex pheromone of a digger bee.

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Norm Gary in his bee suit. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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What Will It Bee?

October 29, 2013

What will it be? Wear bees or eat insects? Lets do both! UC ANR Vice-President Barbara Allen-Diaz promises to wear beeshoney beesif she can raise $2500 by Thursday, Oct. 31 for the UC Promise for Education, a fundraising project to help needy UC students. See her promise page to donate.

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crippled Gulf Fritillary butterfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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We're Not Perfect

October 28, 2013

We're not perfect. Mother Nature isn't, either. For several weeks, we've been rearing Gulf Fritilliary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae).

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Sparkle and Shine!

October 25, 2013

Poet Gertrude Stein, who coined "A rose is a rose is a rose," probably would have liked it. Julia Child, maybe not.

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This Western bumble bee was found on Mt. Shasta on Aug. 15, 2012. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Western Bumble Bee Making a Comeback

October 24, 2013

Incredible. Absolutely incredible. The Western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis) seems to be making a comeback of sorts in some parts of the West. Reporter Michelle Nijhuis, in an Oct.

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