Bug Squad

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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/bugsquad/index.cfm. The story behind "The Sting" is here: https://my.ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7735.

JERUSALEM CRICKET is not really a true cricket or a true bug. It's an insect that burrows beneath the soil to feed on decaying organic matter. During a heavy rainfall, you'll see them emerge from the soaked ground. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Not Jiminy

October 15, 2009

It was an unexpected visit. UC Davis bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey noticed the critter in one of the restrooms at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. She found it several days after the massive Oct. 12 storm raced through Northern California.

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QUEEN BEE, marked with the dot, is circled by her royal attendants in a retinue. This was taken through the glass of an observation hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Life and Death in the Hive

October 14, 2009

Life and death in the bee observation hive... If you ever have the opportunity to check out a bee observation hive--a glassed-in hive showing the colony at work--you can easily spot the three castes: the queen bee, worker bees and drones.

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HONEY BEE nectars a blue marguerite daisy, a member of the sunflower family. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Blue Day for the Bees

October 13, 2009

It's a blue day for the honey bees. The massive Northern California storm--one of our worst-ever storms and marked by heavy rains and equally strong winds--means that bees are clustering inside their hives. No foraging today.

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THIS EGG CASE on a potted plant outside the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis, will yield from 100 to 200 tiny mantises next spring when the weather warms. A praying mantis recently deposited her eggs on the plant. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Cold Case

October 12, 2009

Here's a "cold case" to investigate. Check your backyard or neighborhood park and see if a praying mantis has deposited an egg case on a tree limb, plant or fence. Case in point: Over at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.

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THIS VARROA MITE is feeding on a drone pupa. Varroa mites reproduce in the brood cells and attack the developing bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Not a Pretty Sight

October 9, 2009

It's not a pretty sight--the Varroa mite attacking a honey bee. Beekeepers are accustomed to seeing the reddish-brown, eight-legged parasite (aka "blood sucker") in their hives. UC Davis bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.

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