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

BEE SWARM on a limb near Briggs Hall, home of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. This telephoto was taken from the third floor of Briggs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Bee Swarm at Briggs

July 13, 2009

Eagle-eyed Carol Nickles saw it first. The graduate student coordinator for the UC Davis Department of Entomology spotted the bee swarm from a third-floor window of Briggs Hall. There it was, swaying on a tree branch, about 25 feet above the ground.

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A HONEY BEE rolls around in a poppy, the California state flower.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Just Bee-Cause

July 10, 2009

Sometimes you don't think about the declining bee population when you see a pollen-dusted honey bee rolling around in a poppy blossom, but colony collapse disorder (CCD) is still with us. Pollinator protection is a must. That's why we were glad to see the U. S.

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FIND THE INSECT. Yes, there's an insect in this photo. Under the top blackberry leaf is a "walking leaf" (lighter green). Walking leaves are a big attraction at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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These 'Leaves' Are Made for Walking

July 9, 2009

Two newly moulted insects in the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, look just like leaves. But these leaves are made for walking. These are camouflaged insects (Phyllium giganteum), commonly known as "walking leaves." They're green, wide, and flat.

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A CARPENTER BEE graces the cover of the current edition of California Agriculture. This spectacular photo is the work of Rollin Coville. See the California Agriculture journal online at http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.org/.

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A Salute to California Agriculture

July 8, 2009

Do you recognize the native bee that graces the cover of the current edition of California Agriculture, a peer-reviewed journal published by the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources? Yes, it's a carpenter bee.

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PINK BLOSSOMS of this cactus, Echinopsis, rise majestically, but if you look closely, this plant has company. It harbors plant bugs (see photos below). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Marvelous Mirids

July 7, 2009

So, you spot a bug crawling up and down a plant in your garden. What is it? Plant bug. Plant bug? No kidding. The common name for certain members of the Miridae family is--you guessed it--"plant bug.

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