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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UC EXTENSION APICULTURIST Eric Mussen with a bee observation hive at the 2008 Dixon May Fair. The exhibit, featuring question-and-answer-sessions with Mussen, just won second place in a Western Fairs Association competition. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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A Honey of an Award

March 13, 2009
A honey bee exhibit at the 133rd annual Dixon May Fair featuring Cooperative Extension Apiculturist Eric Mussen has just won a top regional honor. The exhibit, housed appropriately in the floriculture building, won second place in the Western Fairs Associations non-competitive exhibit category.
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VARROA MITE on drone. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Mighty Mite

March 12, 2009
The BBC this week examined colony collapse disorder (CCD), a mysterious phenomonen characterized by bees abandoning their hives. The adult bees buzz off, leaving the brood and stored food behind. They do not return.
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DARWIN--This piece at the Pence Gallery, Davis, is the work of ceramic artist Nuala Creed of Petaluma. Of her art she says: “As he sits holding butterflies and the jawbone of an animal, the chimp gazes directly at the viewer. His offering to us, his next of kin, is his curiosity of the natural world. His intelligence is shown by his inquisitiveness. His name is Darwin, in honor of Charles Darwin, whose work helped us realize that we humans are not above nature, but are of nature. The chimp may be asking us
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Analyze This!

March 11, 2009
A chimpanzee holds a monarch butterfly in a ceramic art work titled Darwin. Human hands cradle insects and assorted objects in a ceramic work titled Analyze This. Those are just two of the art works featured in a juried show under way at the Pence Gallery, 212 D St., Davis.
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This is a photo of Pterostichus lama, which UC Berkeley scientist Kipling "Kip" Will describes as "the largest carabid beetle in California and as big as any in North America." It was taken by one of his students, Ainsley Seago.
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Largest Carabid Beetle in California

March 10, 2009
Tomorrow's a good day to learn about carabid beetles. Kipling "Kip" Will, associate professor of insect systematics, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley, will discuss his research at a noon seminar, Wednesday, March 11 in 122 Briggs Hall, UC Davis.
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A HONEY OF A BEE, packed with pollen, heads for the nectarine blossoms. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Better than Cotton Candy

March 9, 2009
The skies brightened last weekend and the rain-weary honey bees returned to the nectarine blossoms in our yard They were in the pink again! Capturing images of the bees gathering nectar and pollen is more fun than eating cotton candy at a county fair. Springlike day. Radiant pink flowers.
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