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

Male European wool carder bee heads for a catmint (Nepeta) leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Up, Close and Personal

August 31, 2012

If you've ever glimpsed a European wool carder bee foraging in your yard, chances are that's all you saw--a glimpse. The wool carder bees (Anthidium manicatum), so named because the females collect or "card" plant fuzz for their nests, move quickly.

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This photo shows a honey bee (bottom left), a sunflower bee, Svastra, and a sweat bee, Halictus ligatus, with another sweat bee, Halictus tripartus, coming in for a landing. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Sharing a Sunflower

August 30, 2012

You often see a single solitary bee on a sunflower. Perhaps it's a sunflower bee (Svastra) or a honey bee (Apis mellifera). But four on one? Sharing a sunflower? Yes.

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Italian honey bee forages on a zinnia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Now That's Italian!

August 29, 2012

Now that's Italian! The Italian honey bee (below) nectaring on a zinnia at the University of California, Davis, is striking for two reasons: she's as gold as starthistle honey in the sunlight and she's a very young forager.

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This photo of a honey bee on an almond blossom will appear on the WAS conference t-shirt. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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A Two-Fold Bee Conference

August 28, 2012

Seattle will be the place to "bee" on Oct. 4-7. That's where the Western Apicultural Society (WAS) will hold its annual meeting--and this year it's in conjunction with the Washington State Beekeepers' Association.

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What are you looking at? A praying mantis, with a female sweat bee grasped in its spiked forelegs, looks at the camera. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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'Oh, Is This One of Your Bees?'

August 27, 2012

The photo just begs for a caption. The praying mantis, with a female sweat bee grasped in its spiked forelegs, suddenly turns its head to look at the photographer. Actually, three photographers: Davis insect photographers/bee enthusiasts Allan Jones and Gary Zamzow and I.

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