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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THREE'S COMPANY--Three soldier beetles search for aphids on a rose bush. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Good Soldiers

April 22, 2009
They're good soldiers, those soldier beetles. Members of the family Cantharidae, they are beneficial insects that eat other insects, especially aphids and caterpillars--but just about any soft-bodied insect will do. If no insects are available, you'll see them dining on nectar and pollen.
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Ride 'em, Cowboy!

April 21, 2009
Lady beetles, aka ladybugs, eat lots of aphids. Did we say lots of aphids? Lots of aphids. They have no portion control. If you watch closely, you'll see them gobble aphids like theater-goers devour buttered popcorn.
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OL' BLUE EYES--This is a male mountain carpenter bee, Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex Smith, nectaring salvia (sage). Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Ol' Blue Eyes

April 20, 2009
It wasn't the Battle of the Sexes. It was the Battle of the Males. I spotted two male carpenter bees buzzing loudly over the salvia (sage) in our back yard Saturday morning. Each was lying in wait for a female, but instead found a competitor.
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ROUNDING UP THE TERMITES--Coordinating the termite trail activity last year at the UC Davis Picnic Day at Briggs Hall was graduate student Tara Thiemann. She'll also be coordinating the termite trails again this year. The UC Davis Picnic Day is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, April 18. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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They'll Walk the Line

April 17, 2009
Who hates termites? Raise your hands. Those dratted termites damage our homes, decks, furniture, fence posts and other wooden materials. But at the 95th annual UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 18, youll see termites walk the line--ala the Johnny Cash song--between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
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FLY ON A ROSE--We're accustomed to seeing insects on roses, but not flies. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Fly on a Rose Petal

April 16, 2009
Poet Gertrude Stein wrote in her 1913 poem, "Sacred Emily," that "a rose is a rose is a rose." Things are what they are. The laws of identity. No matter where I go, there I am. When I captured this photo last Sunday of a fly on a rose petal, I immediately thought "A fly is a fly is a fly.
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