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

CHEMICAL ECOLOGISTS John Hildebrand (left) of the University of Arizona and Walter Leal of the University of California, Davis, organized and moderated a lively discussion at their seminar at the Entomological Society of America's 58th annual meeting, held recently in San Diego. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Interpreting the Chemical Cues

December 28, 2010

Most of us just finished a whirlwind of olfaction and taste during the holidays, but in the Walter Leal lab at the University of California, Davis, it's a full-time commitment.

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Lessons from the Ants

December 27, 2010

We can learn from the ants. Indeed, we can take lessons from the ants, according to ecologist Rob Dunn (right), assistant professor in the Department of Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh.

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RED ORNAMENT? No, a ladybug, aka ladybird beetle or lady beetle, on Artemisia, a genus belonging to the daisy family, Asteraceae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Spotted Ornaments

December 24, 2010

Red ornaments on a Christmas tree? No, ladybugs (aka ladybird beetles or lady beetles) on Artemisia. Ladybugs are overwintering on our Artemisia (genus belonging to the daisy family, Asteracease). When the rains come, the drops bubble up on the plants and the ladybugs alike.

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VARROA MITE on drone pupa at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, University of California, Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Fighting the Mite

December 23, 2010

There's joy on the horizon for beekeepers battling that pesky Varroa mite. They may soon have a "fool-proof" method to silence the parasite, considered the honey bee's worst enemy.

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THESE DYING WALNUT TREES in Davis, Calif., are victims of thousand cankers disease. (Photo by Steve Seybold)

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A Thousand Questions about TCD

December 22, 2010

Researchers have a thousand questions about thousand cankers disease (TCD), the newly discovered disease that kills black walnut trees. Chemical ecologist and forest entomologist of Steve Seybold of the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Davis, Calif.

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