Bug Squad

Bumble bee on bull thistle at Bodega Bay
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This is a Jerusalem cricket, commonly known as a "potato bug." Someone once described it as a "cricket on steroids." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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This Is NOT an Asian Giant Hornet

December 11th, 2020
Nope, not an Asian giant hornet. Not even close. It's a Jerusalem cricket, sometimes called a "potato bug." The be-on-the-lookout (BOLO) for the Asian giant hornet detected in Canada and Washington state has resulted in scores of queries and submissions of not-even-close specimens.
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A mama widow spider juggles her egg sacs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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Do You Know Your Spiders?

December 10th, 2020
Do you know your spiders? If you engage in social media, you've probably seen a "what-is-this" query about a spider that some unsuspecting person discovered quite unexpectedly in a garden, bedroom, bathroom or garage.
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UC Davis student Jay Rosenheim digging a nest at UC Berkeley's Sagehen Creek Field Station, Truckee, in 1984.
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UC Davis Entomologist Jay Rosenheim: How His World Changed in 1981

December 8th, 2020
A little known fact about the outstanding career of Jay Rosenheim, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology and a newly inducted Fellow of the Entomological Society of America, is that, as an undergraduate at UC Davis, he initially majored in physics. Physics? Yes.
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