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

BEE-ING THERE--Honey bees pollinate more than 90 crops, including the nectarine. The honey bee pollinates one third of the American diet. Without the honey bee, there would be no Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving as we know it. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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The Insect Behind Thanksgiving Day

November 27, 2008

Happy Turkey Day! The last Thursday of November is Thanksgiving Day, but it really should be Honey Bee Day. Without the bees, wed have no Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving as we know it. They are our unstung heroes. They pollinate more than 90 agricultural crops in California.

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FELLOW AWARD--ESA President Michael Gray (left) presents the highly acclaimed Fellow award to UC Davis entomologist Michael Parrella. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Our Fellows

November 26, 2008

One of the highlights of the Entomological Society of America's 56th annual meeting, held Nov. 16-19 in Reno, was the presentation of the Fellow awards. This year two of the 10 recipients came from the University of California faculty--or more specifically, from UC Davis.

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A varroa mite (see reddish-brown spot on bee's thorax) at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. Varroa mites are native to Asia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Those Dratted Mites

November 25, 2008

Those dratted mites. UC Davis entomologist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor and a native bee pollinator specialist, sent us a BBC report linking a varroa mite infestation to a devastating honey production loss in the UK. It's the worst honey crisis ever to hit the UK.

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PONDERING A QUESTION are (from left) the UC Riverside team of Jennifer Henke, Casey Butler, Jason Mottern and Rebeccah Waterworth. UC Riverside won the Linnaean Games. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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The Answers

November 24, 2008

Okay, what are the answers? In a prior blog, we listed several questions asked at the Linnaean Games, a college-bowl type of quiz thats a traditional part of the Entomological Society of Americas annual meeting. You have to know insect facts and figures and ESA history to win.

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The Curl

November 21, 2008

In football lingo, a curl is a spin on a football, which makes it swerve when it's kicked. Honey bees can also "curl." I took this photo today of a lone bee curled on purple sage. The worker bee was gathering nectar in the summerlike weather.

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