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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SIGN in front of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis honors the legendary geneticist. The ceramic sculpture at the site (sign and walls) is the work of Davis artist Donna Billick and entomologist-artist Diane Ullman. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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The Bees Have It

August 13, 2009
The bees have it. That would be honey bees and native bees. The UC Davis Department of Entomology has just launched its new bee biology Web site.
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EXTENSION APICULTURIST Eric Mussen (left) of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty shares information with Pennsylvania State Uniersity entomologist Dennis van Engelsdorp at the 2007 meeting of the Entomological Society of America. UC Davis and Penn State receive research funds in a project launched by Haagen-Dazs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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The Buzz About CCD

August 12, 2009
Entomologists, geneticists and virologists are still searching for the cause of colony collapse disorder (CCD). Yes, they're still searching, and no, there' s no known cause yet. CCD is a mysterious phenomonen characterized by adult bees abandoning the hive.
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CARPENTER BEE nectars a rock purslane. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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In the Pink

August 11, 2009
Thunder boomed across the garden. The carpenter bee (Xylocopata tabaniformis orpifex) meant business. She headed straight for the slowly opening rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora). Never mind that the petals hadn't quite unfolded.
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HONEY BEE, with tongue extended, heads for catmint (Nepeta faassenii). This will be among the plants in the half-acre Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, to be open to the public Oct. 16 on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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'Mint' Condition

August 10, 2009
Honey bees love catmint as much as cats love catnip. Fact is, catmint and catnip belong to the same family: the mint family or Lamiaceae. The family also includes such aromatic celebrities as peppermint, sage, thyme, lavender, basil and oregano. So, when the Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven opens Oct.
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THIS HONEY BEE, sipping water from a leaf, is safe and secure--but not if hordes of Rasberry crazy ants find her. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Beleaguered Bee, Crazy Ant

August 7, 2009
It's a crazy world out there. Now our beleaguered honey bee has a new foe: the Rasberry crazy ant, Paratrechina sp. nr. pubens. The Rasberry crazy ant is driving Texans crazy.
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