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

Honey bee nectars a zinnia, unaware of a predator eyeing her every move. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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What's Peering Over the Petals?

July 19, 2012

There are many reasons why honey bees don't come home at night. One of them: a stealthy praying mantis. If you like to photograph flowers, odds are that some day you'll see more than one insect on a blossom.

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Beekeeper Brian Fishback shows Alyssa Fine the bee sculpture in the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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A Honey of a Visit

July 18, 2012

When youngsters meet Alyssa Fine, the first thing they ask is Do you ever get stung? They also ask if the bee population is still declining and if shes a beekeeper. Yes, yes, and yes. Alyssa Fine, 23, of Monongahela, Penn., is accustomed to answering questions.

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Honey bee nectaring on a zinnia in the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Are Bees Finding the 'Zen' in Zinnias?

July 17, 2012

Eye-catching zinnias grace the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, the half-acre bee friendly garden planted in the fall of 2009 next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis.

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Female digger bee, Anthophora bomboides stanfordiana, heads for her nest. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Diggin' the Bees in Bodega

July 16, 2012

They can fool you. Just like replica designer bags, shoes and sunglasses meant to look like the real thing (think Louis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo and Prada), those digger bees on Bodega Head, overlooking Bodega Bay, look like bumble bees. Especially the females.

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Sunflower bee (Svastra spp.) foraging on cosmos. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Pollen Party

July 13, 2012

Makes sense that the sunflower bee (Svastra spp.) forages on the genus Cosmos. Cosmos (also the common name) is a member of the sunflower family, Asteraceae. Sunflower bee: sunflower family. A specialist bee.

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