- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's inexpensive, holdable, and very much alive.
The gold?
Texas Gold-Banded millipedes (Orthoporus ornatus). They're new and permanent residents of the museum's “petting zoo” and they're ready to be observed or held, said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and UC Davis professor of entomology.
“They're a great addition to the museum's petting zoo,” Kimsey said. “They are very gentle and great for demonstrations of how millipedes walk and how they differ from centipedes.”
Millipede enthusiast Evan White, who does design and communications for the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, and is a frequent presenter at the Bohart's open houses, recently obtained the arthropods from a collector in Texas. “Texas Gold-Banded millipedes are naive to many of the Southwestern United States, not just Texas,” he said.
White was initially looking for the African giant millipedes (Archispirostreptus gigas) but these are not only expensive but no longer imported.
“I suggested that the Bohart Museum consider a native, and a much smaller species. In fact, native species are the only millipedes readily available, and they're much less expensive. The Texas Gold-Banded millipedes are easily bred and are a hardy species that will make a large colony.”
For the price of one A. gigas, Whiteobtained 15 millipedes, a mix of both males and females.
The 15 millipedes arrived at the Bohart Museum, 1124 Academic Surge on Crocker Lane, at the end of August. During the unpacking, White and is colleagues observed the millipedes mating. “Evidently they waste no time,” White quipped.
Millipedes are one of the largest, and most colorful species on the North American continent, White said. They make great displays, do well in captivity, and seem to breed readily, all desirable qualities in a pet or display animal.
Contrary to popular belief, millipedes are not dangerous. “There is much public confusion about the difference between millipedes and centipedes--not because the two look similar, but because the terms are used interchangeably when not connected to a visual,” White said.
He described millipedes as non-venomous, and relatively slow moving, with cylindrical bodies, two pairs of legs per body segment, and herbivorous. “In fact, they are more like decomposers – they do well on rotting vegetation, wood, etc.--the scientific word for is ‘detritivore.' Most millipedes are toxic if consumed, some even secrete a type of cyanide when distressed. The point being: don't lick one.”
In contract, centipedes are venomous, fast-moving insects with large, formidable fangs, and one pair of legs per body segment. “They are highly carnivorous, although some will eat bananas. Go figure. And they are often high-strung and aggressive if provoked.”
What makes millipedes special--and particularly the Texas Gold-Banded millipedes?
“Personally, I am a big admirer of how they look, almost mechanical, like a metal conduit or something,” he said. “Couple that with the wave ripple of leg movement and I can't get enough of how they look.”
“Generally, there many thousands of types (Wikipedia lists 12,000 named species) which range in size, shape and color from nearly a foot long and black, to only an inch long and bright red. There are round ones, long thin ones, flat ones, spiky ones and nearly every combination in between. They are remarkable critters.”
White estimates the life span at five to six years or more. “In captivity, they do well on squashes, leafy greens, the occasional fruit, and, from time to time, damp/rotting cork.”
Visitors can see the millipedes during the Bohart Museum's regular hours, from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and at the weekend open houses held throughout the academic year. The first of nine open houses, free and open to the public, will take place Saturday, Sept. 27 from 1 to 4 p.m. The theme is "How to Be an Entomologist.”
The insect museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge building, Crocker Lane, off LaRue Road.
At the Sept. 27th open house, plans call for UC Davis entomologists to show and explain their work, said Bohart Museum director Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
"We will have a pinning and butterfly and moth spreading ongoing workshop with Jeff Smith and tips on how to rear insects," said Tabatha Yang, the Bohart Museum's education and outreach coordinator. Smith, an entomologist in Sacramento, is a longtime donor and volunteer at the Bohart. "It will be very hands-on."
Representatives from the labs of molecular geneticist Joanna Chiu, assistant professor; bee scientist Brian Johnson, assistant professor; ant specialist Phil Ward, professor; insect demographer James Carey; and integrated pest management specialist Frank Zalom, distinguished professor and current president of the 7000-member Entomological Society of America will share their research.
The Johnson lab will provide a bee observation hive, and Cindy Preto of the Zalom lab will be sharing her research on leafhoppers. The Carey lab will show student-produced videos, including how to make an insect collection, and one-minute entomology presentations (students showcasing an insect in one minute). The Ward lab will be involved in outside activities, demonstration how to collect ants. Entomology students will be on hand to show visitors how to use nets and pitfall traps and yellow pans.
The Bohart Museum, founded by noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007), is the home of nearly eight million insect specimens. It houses the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity.
Special attractions include a “live” petting zoo, featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas. Visitors are invited to hold the insects and photograph them.
The museum's gift shop (on location and online) includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.