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

POLLEN LOAD--A pollen-packing bee at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility visits an almond blossom. This photo was taken March 5. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Pistol Packin' Mamas

March 6, 2009

Pistol packin mamas have nothing on honey bees. Have you ever seen the pollen load that a honey bee carries? What's pollen? It's the fine, powder-like material produced by the anthers of flowering plants, or the grains that contain the male reproductive cells of a seed plant.

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SUSAN COBEY shows a frame to the students in her 2008 class, "The Art of Queen Rearing." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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BYOV--And That Means?

March 5, 2009

The honey bee population is declining throughout the world, but not the interest in the art of queen rearing. The annual class taught by bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.

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Blue merle mini-Australian shepherds have one: a tongue. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Tongue-Tied

March 4, 2009

Blue merle mini-Australian shepherds have one. So do honey bees. What? A tongue. For a puppy, the tongue can symbolize pure happiness. For a worker honey bee: a solid work ethic.

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SOLITARY SOAPBERRY BUG climbs a tree in the UC Davis Arboretum, a good place for nature walks and insect observations. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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It Might as Well Be...Spring

March 3, 2009

If you like to take nature walks and lean against an occasional tree, you might rub shoulders with a red-eyed, red-shouldered bug. On warm, springlike days, soapberry bugs are exploring their territories--and doing what comes naturally.

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Honey bee nectaring Claremont pink currant (Ribes sanguineum var. glutinosum 'Claremont') (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Plan Bee

March 2, 2009

Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796) lamented in his poem To a Mouse (1786) that The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. He had just plowed into a mouse nest on his farm. The loss of life disturbed him.

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