Scarab Beetles First to Arrive at UC Davis 'Moth Night'

Bug Squad

sitenum=63

Happenings in the insect world

Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey

Published on: July 23, 2018

A beetle--not a moth--arrived first at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's "Moth Night." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

It was "Moth Night" at the Bohart Museum of Entomology last Saturday night, but three scarab beetles beat the moths to the blacklighting display.

The UC Davis event took place from 8 to 11 p.m. Saturday, July 21 in celebration of National Moth Week, July 21-29, which celebrated the beauty, life cycles and habitats of moths.

Entomologists use the blacklight to collect or view night-flying insects attracted to ultraviolet light. The Bohart associates set up two displays near the Bohart, but the one set up along a UC Davis Arboretum path drew the most moths--and the most spectators.

Blacklighting is basically comprised of a hanging white sheet, illuminated by ultraviolet (UV) light and powered by a generator.

More than 140 spectators attended Moth Night, held both inside the museum (located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane) and outside on the campus grounds.

The scarab beetles or what some folks often call by the common name "June bugs" (referring to certain species of scarabs) showed up first, followed by assorted moths.

Beetle expert Fran Keller, assistant professor at Folsom Lake College who received her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis, identified it as a Polyphylla sp. or lined June beetle. "I think it was a female because the antennae were reduced."

Bohart associate and "Moth Man" John De Benedictis listed the species sighted at Moth Night by family. Among them:

NOCTUIDAE: Spodoptera exigua (Beet Armyworm Moth), Proxenus sp. (probably P. mindara)
GEOMETRIDAE: Prochoerodes truxaliata
PYRALIDAE: Ehestiodes gilvescentella
TORTRICIDAE: Cydia latiferreana (Filbertworm Moth), Grapholita prunivora (Lesser Appleworm Moth)
GELECHIIDAE: Leucogniella sp. (probably L. distincta)
TINEDAE: Oinophila v-flava
ACROLOPHIDAE: Amydria sp. (cannot tell genus or species without dissecting. Likely Pseudopsalta confusella.)

De Benedictis said a young girl collected the Prochoerodes truxaliata, a moth that feeds on coyote bush as a caterpillar.

The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum. It maintains a live "petting zoo," featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, tarantulas, and praying mantids. The museum's gift shop, open year around, includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.

The Bohart Museum's regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. It is closed to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and on major holidays. Admission is free. More information on the Bohart Museum is available on the website or by contacting (530) 752-0493 or emailing bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.

(Editor's Note: Stay tuned for photos of the inside activities on Moth Night.)

UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology professor Jason Bond examines a scarab beetle at the blacklighting display set up during Moth Night. Bond, a new member of the faculty, is professor of entomology and the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in insect systematics. At left is "Moth Man" John De Benedictus, Bohart Museum associate. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This was the setting in the UC Davis Arboretum for the Bohart Museum's "Moth Night." At right is "Moth Man" John De Benedictis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Close-up of the first insect--a scarab beetle--to arrive at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's "Moth Night" blacklighting display. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Focus Areas:

Focus Area Tags: Family, Natural Resources, Pest Management

Tags: blacklighting (4), Bohart Museum of Entomology (594), Jason Bond (43), John De Benedictis (4), Lynn Kimsey (412), Moth Night (23), moths (23), scarab beetles (1), UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (695)

Comments: 1

Comments:

by Art Shapiro

on July 24, 2018 at 9:32 AM

Pretty pitiful moth turnout. Forty years ago there would have been perhaps 50-60 species this time of year, including large sphingids (like the tomato worms, which are essentially extinct here). Numbers and diversity on the Sierran west slope are down, too.