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In Search of the Mining Bees

1 week ago | ucanr.edu | Kathy Keatley Garvey

Bug Squad BlogBy Kathy Keatley GarveyThere she was, a mining bee (genus Andrena) sunning herself on a Passiflora (passionflower vine). She did not notice me. Such a tiny bee, about the size of a grain of rice. It's a solitary ground-nesting bee known as "an early spring bee" and it lives only a few weeks. We've seen the mining bees on our cherry laurels in Vacaville, and on meadowfoam at the Jepson Prairie Preserve, Dixon. When they emerge, they quickly find a mate.
Flameskimmers Bring Great Joy

1 week ago | ucanr.edu | Kathy Keatley Garvey

Bug Squad BlogBy Kathy Keatley GarveyFlameskimmers bring great joy. Today we saw the first dragonfly of the season in our Vacaville garden. The flameskimmer perched on a stick and me allowed me to take few images. Thanks, flameskimmer!It was just a couple of weeks ago that I reviewed a book for Argia, the Dragonfly Society of the America's quarterly news journal. The book, Dragonflies (Anisoptera) of California. By Kathy Biggs and Sandra von Arb. 2024. BEAR Fdn, Petaluma, California, 200 pp.
Swing That Net! | UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

1 week ago | ucanr.edu | Kathy Keatley Garvey

Bug Squad BlogBy Kathy Keatley GarveySwing that net! Catch that butterfly!The Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis encouraged people of all ages to show their skills at netting a butterfly replica on the Briggs Hall lawn last Saturday during the 111th annual campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day.
UC Davis Picnic Day: Ready, Set, Go!

1 week ago | ucanr.edu | Kathy Keatley Garvey

Bug Squad BlogBy Kathy Keatley GarveyThe long-awaited UC Davis Picnic Day activities at Briggs Hall will begin at 9 a.m., Saturday, April 12 and continue until 5 p.m.It promises to be a fun-filled and educational event where roaches races, maggots crawl and the crowd cheers. And everyone learns more about entomology, also known as insect science. If a person really wants to be a bee or a cockroach, there's a cardboard cutout for that.
'Fantastic' and Much Needed Workshop: Fruit Fly ID

1 month ago | ucanr.edu | Kathy Keatley Garvey

Invasive fruit flies attack more than 300 of California's crops, ranging from fruits and nuts to berries and vegetables, causing millions worth of dollars in damage annually. That's why it's important to learn how to identify these pests, such as what occurred at a three-day training workshop held recently at the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Plant Pest Diagnostics Laboratory. A USDA Farm Bill grant funded two workshops.
What the Vannette Lab at UC Davis Learned About Plants Protecting their Nectar

1 month ago | ucanr.edu | Kathy Keatley Garvey

When you think of hydrogen peroxide, you probably don't think of plants, right? You probably think of an antiseptic used on the skin to prevent infection of minor cuts, scrapes, and burns. Or as a bleach. Enter the world of plant sciences.
Dad's Bees

1 month ago | ucanr.edu | Kathy Keatley Garvey

If you come from a beekeeping family, you remember Dad's Bees. My father, like many fathers before him, kept bees. I marveled at the hives, the smoker, the hive tool, the veil, but most of all the bees that buzzed out of the nurse-white boxes to gather nectar, pollen, propolis and water for their colonies. I watched them return from our orchards and garden with their precious cargo. We can learn a lot from the bees. They work together to ensure their colony will not only survive, but thrive.
Don't Pinch Me! I'm Green

1 month ago | ucanr.edu | Kathy Keatley Garvey

The metallic green sweat bee, Agapostemon subtilior, need not worry about being pinched on St. Patrick's Day. It wears iridescent green all year around. The pollinator I photographed several years ago was then known as Agapostemon texanus, or the Texas Striped Sweat Bee. As of last year, taxonomists have declared it the Agapostemon subtilior, the fine-striped sweat bee.
CC Edwards Elected Chair of Youth Professionals, American Mosquito Control Association

1 month ago | ucanr.edu | Kathy Keatley Garvey

Carla-Cristina “CC” Edwards is going to be more busy than the "skeeters" she studies. CC, a second-year doctoral student in the lab of UC Davis medical entomologist-geneticist Geoffrey Attardo, is the newly elected chair of the Young Professionals (YPs) of the American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA). Beginning this summer, CC will be overseeing more than 500 young mosquito control professionals throughout the nation.
Bohart Scientists Explain Venomous vs. Poisonous

1 month ago | ucanr.edu | Kathy Keatley Garvey

UC Davis arachnologist James "Jim" Starrett answered scores of questions at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house, themed "Poisonous vs. Venomous." They included: What is the difference between poisonous and venomous? Are there tarantulas in California? Where does one find millipedes and centipedes in California? What spider species in California have dangerous venom? Do Ricinulei live in California? Are the spiders in the jar of alcohol alive? Is the brown recluse spider found in California?