Bug Squad

The Sting. (c) Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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OPENING A HIVE--UC Cooperative Extension Apiculturist Eric Mussen (second from left) shows a frame to the Vietnamese scientists. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Golden Moments

May 27, 2009
They're now back in Vietnam, but for three days they went on a honey of a tour.
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WHILE one male carpenter bee (Xylocopa tabaniformis) nectars on sage, another male attempts to scare him away. Male carpenter bees are very territorial. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Two Is Not Company

May 26, 2009
You rarely see two male adult carpenter bees in the same photo. They are very aggressive and territorial. While they're waiting for females to arrive, they chase all prospective suitors away. Unlike the females, however, they can't sting.
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ROSE CURCULIO lays its eggs inside a yellow rose bud. Note the holes in the rose bud. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garevy)
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I Never Promised You...a Rose Weevil

May 25, 2009
I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden. Along with the sunshine, There's gotta be a little rain sometimes. --Joe South And maybe a rose curculio or rose weevil.
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SYRPHID, aka flower fly or hover fly, lands on a cosmos. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Caught on the Cosmos

May 22, 2009
Cosmos flowers are somewhat like Libras. They balance. In fact, the word, "cosmos," means "harmony" or "ordered universe" in Greek. Plant cosmos and you'll soon be enjoying colorful flowers that belong to the Asteraceae family, which also includes sunflowers, daisies and asters.
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UC DAVIS RESEARCHER Robbin Thorp with a computer screen showing Franklin's bumble bee. He captured this image on a California poppy. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Goodbye, Franklin's Bumble Bee?

May 21, 2009
Let's have a show of hands. How many of you have seen Franklin's bumble bee in the wild? Never HEARD of it, you say? Well, you probably will never SEE it, either. Bumble bee experts think it may be extinct.
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