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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LADYBUGS converging on a plum tree leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Article

Why We Love Ladybugs

April 8, 2011
There's a good reason why lady beetles, aka ladybugs, are prevalent this time of year: aphids. Ladybugs, from the family Coccinellidae, are actually beetles with voracious appetites for those soft-bodied insects that suck plant juices. Wherever there are aphids, you'll usually see ladybugs.
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SOLDIER BEETLE, perched on a plum tree leaf, checks it surroundings. It's an avid aphid-eater. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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The Leather Wings

April 7, 2011
Some call them "soldier beetles." Some call them "leather-winged beetles." Some call them "Cantharids" (family Cantharidae). Whatever you call them, be sure to welcome them to your garden. They eat aphids, lots of aphids. Like the good soldiers they are, they're ready to do battle.
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Festooning

April 6, 2011
That old saying, "Be all you can be," should be changed to "Bee all you can bee.
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BRUCE HAMMOCK, distinguished professor of entomology at UC Davis, in his habitat on the garden level of Briggs Hall. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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From Moths to Medicine

April 5, 2011
From moths to medicine... When distinguished professor Bruce Hammock of the UC Davis Department of Entomology speaks at the department's noonhour seminar tomorrow (Wednesday, April 6) in 122 Briggs Hall, his topic is sure to draw attention.
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HONEY BEES work the almonds at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Bee-ing There for the Vote

April 4, 2011
Beekeepers with more than 50 colonies and who do business in California will soon have the opportunity to help support honey bee research.
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