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

Almond tree blooming on Jan. 1, 2013 in Benicia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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First Almond Blossom of 2013

January 9, 2013

Talk about an early bloomer! At least one almond tree was blooming in California on the first day of the year. In the Benicia State Recreation Area, to be exact. We spotted the almond tree flowering on Jan. 1 near the entrance to the state park.

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'THE BAD'--This is a Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito that transmits West Nile virus and other diseases. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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The Biggest and the Baddest

January 8, 2013

Sometimes we divide insects into "the biggest and the baddest." Such will be the case Sunday, Jan. 13 when the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis, hosts an open house from 1 to 4 p.m., in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge building.

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Assassin bug. Pselliopus spinicollis, feeding on dead Drosophila. (Photo by Sam Beck)

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Bring on the Tourists!

January 7, 2013

It's a case of a sticky situation benefitting a plant. Or more precisely, dead fruit flies or carrion on a tarweed plant can benefit the plant in more ways that most people would ever think about, say researchers in the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

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Aedes aeypti, also known as the dengue mosquito. (CDC Photo)

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Fighting Dengue

January 4, 2013

The dengue research news coming out of medical entomologist Thomas Scott's lab at the University of California, Davis, is certainly exciting. And compelling.

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Pollination ecologist Neal Williams of UC Davis with native bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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The Importance of Pollinators

January 3, 2013

It's a brief appearance but the message is important. Pollination ecologist Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology at UC Davis, appears briefly in a segment on native pollinators produced by America's Heartland. The show is now airing throughout the country.

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