Bug Squad

The Sting. (c) Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

October 1, 2009
Anopheles gambiae, the mosquito that transmits malaria, has a new foe. And his first name is Win.
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WEST COAST LADY (Vanessa annabella) and a honey bee share the same sage, Salvia uliginosa. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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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.
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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)
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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.
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HONEY BEE pauses after nectaring the purple Penstamon and begins to extend her tongue. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Tongue in Cheek

September 28, 2009
The honey bee nectaring the Penstemon, aka Beardtongue, in Tomales, Calif., didn't seem to mind my presence. Perfect. The amber-colored bee was foraging among the purple two-lipped flowers.
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MONARCH BUTTERFLY nectaring in the Luther Burbank Gardens, Santa Rosa. The Luther Burbank home is in the background. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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It's in the Antennae

September 25, 2009
Surprise: it's in the antennae! Neurobiologists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have long wondered how monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) can migrate from across eastern North America to a specific grove of fir trees in Mexico.
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