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

THIS TINY HOVER FLY is nectaring on a strawberry blossom at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly garden being developed on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis. This hover fly is most likely from the genus Paragus sp., said UC Davis emeritus professor and pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Not Just the Bees

October 5, 2009

It's not just the honey bees that will be foraging in the half-acre Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis. Scores of native bees and other insects will be there, too. They already are. A weekend visit to the haven, a bee friendly garden being developed next to the Harry H.

View Article

THIS MALE green metallic sweat bee, Agapostemon texanus, looks as if someone poured fluorescent paint on it. It's about one-fourth the size of a honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Color It Metallic Green

October 2, 2009

The green metallic sweat bee looks as if someone splashed green fluorescent paint on it. This uniquely colored bee is just one of some 1600 native bee species in California. It's about one-fourth the size of a honey bee and it's difficult to photograph because (1) it's tiny and (2) it moves fast.

View Article

MALARIA RESEARCHER Win Surachetpong in the Shirley Luckhart lab at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Attacking Anopheles

October 1, 2009

Anopheles gambiae, the mosquito that transmits malaria, has a new foe. And his first name is Win.

View Article

WEST COAST LADY (Vanessa annabella) and a honey bee share the same sage, Salvia uliginosa. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

The West Coast Lady and the Bee

September 30, 2009

Summer is fading and the temperatures are dropping, too. You're more likely to see Vanessa. That would be Vanessa annabella, one of the Painted Lady butterflies.

View Article

UP ON TOP--A tachinid rests on top of a lavender. This is a female of a Peleteria species, a common genus in southwestern United States. The genus is characterized by two prominent setae in front of the lower part of the eye.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Article

Tiptoeing Through the Lavender

September 29, 2009

Ever seen a tachinid tiptoeing through the lavender? The tachinids are parasitic flies that lay their eggs in hosts such as Lepidoptera (butterfly) caterpillars. As larvae, they live in and kill their hosts. As adults, they sip nectar and other plant juices.

View Article