Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay

Looking for a specific Blog post?

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

Close-up of woolly bear caterpillar on Bodega Head, Sonoma County. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Feeding Frenzy on Bodega Head

March 6, 2012

If you're planning to hike the hills around Bodega Head in Sonoma County, watch out for the bears. The woolly bear caterpillars, that is. Last Sunday, with the temperature hovering around 70 degrees, the woolly bears were everywhere.

View Article

Neal Williams discusses native bees at a recent conference in Woodland. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

'A' Is for Almonds

March 5, 2012

Bee specialists Neal Williams and Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology are among those quoted in a comprehensive news story, "Hives for Hire," published March 3 in the Los Angeles Times.

View Article

Malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. (Photo by Anthony Cornel)

Article

Tackling a Massive Killer

March 2, 2012

It's good to see that the UC Davis campus will host its sixth annual World Malaria Day observance. This year's event, set Wednesday, April 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

View Article

Yellow-faced bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii) foraging on the Pride of Maderia at Bodega Bay on Feb. 27. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Bumble Bees Are Back!

March 1, 2012

The yellow-faced bumble bees are back! And amid the throes of winter and the promise of spring. On a trip Feb. 27 to Bodega Bay, we spotted two yellow-faced bumble bees (Bombus vosnesenskii) about two miles apart.

View Article

Honey bee working an almond blossom on the grounds of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

How Many Hives for Almond Pollination?

February 29, 2012

We've been watching the almonds budding and blossoming since late January. They're in full bloom now, but a little ragged by the recent rain. California has some 750,000 acres of almonds, and it takes two hives per acre to pollinate them.

View Article