Mosaic ceramic tile of a soapberry bug. This is the work of Gloria Marin. (Photo by Diane Ullman)

And unleash the secret of soapberry bugs?

Students in the Entomology 1 class, offered by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, studied soapberry bugs under the tutelage of evolutionary ecologists/soapberry scientists Scott Carroll and Jenella Loye. The students then created screen-printed tile mosaics (like the photo at right). 

The popular class, headed by Diane Ullman, professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, fuses art with science. Ullman, not only a noted entomologist but an accomplished artist, co-founded and co-directed the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program.

Where can you see the students' art? It will be among the work featured at "The Secret World of Insects" exhibition and reception, set from 5 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, June 3 in the Third Space Art Collective, 946 Olive Drive. It's free and open to the public.

"Soapberry bugs are beautiful insects that are found in many parts of the world. Their most defining ecological characteristic is their specialized diet," Carroll says on his website, Soapberry Bugs of the World. "They feed on the seeds of the soapberry family, which includes well known plants like boxelders, maples, soapberries (or soapnuts), jacket plums, rambutans, and litchis. These plants have evolved many ways to protect their seeds from soapberry bugs: flying seeds, seeds protected in inflated spheres, seeds with cyanide, and seeds that are held unfilled on the plant for months while the bugs slowly starve. Yet these insects work around the plants' co-evolved defenses and use the seeds to fuel their own development and reproduction."

Carroll directs the UC Davis Institute for Contemporary Evolution. Both he and Loye, husband and wife, are members of the Sharon Lawler lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

Ullman said that 70 students participated in the Entomology 1 class last quarter. "We had four sections," she added. They were:

1. Ceramics. The students created a screen-printed tile mosaic about evolution of the soapberry bug with the support and scientific advice of Jenella Loye and Scott Carroll. Also, this quarter, self-described rock artist Donna Billick, co-founder and former co-director of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, assisted the students.
2. Sculpture with reuse materials. The students made sculptural story boards about insects.
3. Painting and multimedia.The students did trip tic-like canvases about a diversity of insects.
4. Bioart. The students created insect drawings with fungi on agar.