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

Asian soybean aphid. (Courtesy Wikipedia, Claudio Gratton, University of Wisconsin)

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Targeting the Asian Soybean Aphid

December 3, 2013

The Asian soybean aphid is not exactly a household word. As its name implies, it's native to Asia. It was first detected in North America in Wisconsin in July 2000. Technically, its Aphis glycines Matsumura. In lay language, that's spelled "p-e-s-t.

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A jeweled beetle, part of the arts and crafts activity. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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The Beetles and the Sticks

December 2, 2013

Ooh, a walking stick! Look! Its eating a leaf. Ooh, look at the dung beetles. Those were some of the comments overheard at the Bohart Museum of Entomologys recent open house, themed Beauty and the Beetles.

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Butterfly expert Art Shapiro of UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Linking Art with Science

November 29, 2013

So, you want to know more about butterflies and art, and the link between art and science. Youre in luck.

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A honey bee heading for a tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Thankful for Insects

November 28, 2013

Of the many things I'm thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for the millions of insects that populate our planet. Scientists have described more than a million species, but there may be 10 million more undescribed. I am thankful for honey bees.

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Spotted cucumber beetle and its path of destruction. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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The Diabolical Diabrotica

November 27, 2013

Some folks mistake the spotted cucumber beetle for a ladybug or lady beetle. However, unlike the beneficial ladybug, which devours aphids and other soft-bodied insects, the spotted cucumber beetle is a major agricultural pest.

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