In real life, the black widow spider is about 1.5 inches long.

You'd never know that if you looked in the backyard of UC Davis entomologists Robert and Lynn Kimsey.

The UC Davis Entomology Club, advised by Robert Kimsey, is building a 40-foot-long black widow spider for the UC Davis Picnic Day Parade on Saturday, April 18.

Latrodectus hesperus has never looked so...well...huge!

And so colorful--right down to the distinctive red hourglass.

What's it like seeing a huge spider coming to life in your backyard?

“Well, it is very weird!” said Robert Kimsey, a forensic entomologist and longtime advisor of the club. “It is huge and currently in pieces as it is getting its skin and pedipalps and other minor body parts and whatnot.  It is anatomically correct in every way!  The students have been trained well in arachnology!”

“There are legs all over the place,” Kimsey said. Each is slightly less than 20 feet long. "Again, it is huge.  I have to admit that there are some brilliant artists and engineers in this group! But looking out the windows into the backyard takes your breath away. Any non-biologist would completely go to pieces.”  

Along with anyone suffering from arachnophobia.

The last time the the UC Davis Entomology Club entered a float in the UC Davis Picnic Day Parade was about 20 years ago.  And yes, it was a black widow spider (see photo below)

“The spider idea collectively came from all members of the cabinet after hearing about past picnic days from Bob,” said Entomology Club vice president Alex Nguyen. “When we presented it to the club we received very positive feedback so we decided to commit to marching in the parade with a float this year.”

The spider represents a month of planning and two weeks of building, Nguyen said.

During the parade, Entomology Club president Marko Marrero will be inside the spider, hoisting it up, and walking with it, along with two people at each leg.

If you want to see the spider, the opening ceremony of the parade begins at 9:25 a.m. in the grandstands on the North Quad Avenue across from Wickson Hall. The parade begins at 10, snakes downtown, and ends at noon. Announcement locations include the beginning of the parade; second and D Street in downtown Davis; F street in front of PDQ Fingerprinting; and third and C Street in downtown Davis.

You can also see the spider after the parade. It will be showcased in front of Briggs Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, where scores of entomological events will take place, including cockroach races, maggot art, honey tasting, and fly-tying. There will be a bee observation hive, ant displays, and displays of mosquitoes, forest insects and aquatic insects.

The UC Davis Entomology Club and the Entomology Graduate Student Association will be working the booths, along with faculty and staff.

Membership in the UC Davis Entomology Club is open to all interested persons (email entomologyclub@gmail.com). Members are faculty, staff, students (college and high school) and community residents.

They have at least one thing in common: they're interested in insects and other arthropods, including arachnids (spiders).

Even at picnics...and parades...

It promises to be a "honey of a day" and a "honey of a picnic" at the 101st annual UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 18. Lots of activities are planned campuswide, but let's focus on the bees, pollination and honey tasting.

The Department of Entomology and Nematology will offer honey tasting from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Briggs Hall courtyard. Last year's event drew some 3000 people. The process is easy: take a toothpick, dip it into the honey container (no double-dipping) and savor.

This year visitors can sample six different varietals of honey: coffee blossom, meadowfoam blossom, buckwheat, creamed clover, cotton and chestnut, according to Extension apiculturist Elina Niño. Across the hallway, in Room 122,  folks can check out the bee observation hive from the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.  Niño and staff research associate Billy Synk will answer questions about bees.

The Department of Nematology and Nematology is also planning a Pollination Pavilion at Briggs Hall where visitors can learn all about pollinators. And, the department's Bohart Museum of Entomology will feature pollinators in  Room 1124 of the Academic Surge building on Crocker Lane. You won't want to miss either one.

Several blocks away, the Honey and Pollination Center, located at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science (RMI), will offer honey tasting: avocado, orange blossom, sage, sweet pea, meadowfoam and UC Davis wildflower. Visitors can purchase the UC Davis wildflower honey, said Honey and Pollination Center executive director Amina Harris. And yes, there will be a bee observation hive at RMI, too. How fast can you find the queen bee?

Meanwhile, the "Wings of Life" will be playing continuously in the RMI's Sensory Theatre. It doesn't get any better than this!

Harris encourages visitors to "bee all you can bee" by wearing bee or honey costumes or "come dressed as your favorite pollinator." Arts and crafts activities for children are also planned. Think bees. Thank them, too. You'll see bees foraging in the Good Life Garden that fronts RMI. Vegetables, fruits, herbs...they're all there.

Saturday is a also a good time to visit the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus. Planted in 2009, the half-acre bee friendly garden is operated by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.  It is open from dawn to dusk every day for self-guided tours. There you'll see honey bees from the nearby Laidlaw facility doing what they do best--pollinating. Keep a watch out for other pollinators, too. They include sweat bees, digger bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees and butterflies. Then mark your calendar for May 2 to return to the haven from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the fifth anniversary celebration, coordinated by manager Chris Casey.

Yes, Saturday April 18 promises to be a "honey of a day" and a "honey of a picnic."

In Journalism 101, students learn that news stories need the Four Ws--who, what, when, where and why" and the H--"how come."

But when it comes to UC Davis Picnic Day 101, the "101" doesn't mean inexperience. This is the 101st annual celebration, which means UC Davis has been doing this for a century.

It's an event billed as entertaining, educational and informative--and it is. Plus, it's just plain fun!

Longtime friends and family get to hug ya. Entomologists get to bug ya. Visitors will see plenty of insects and other arthropods from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at two sites: Briggs Hall on Kleiber Hall Drive and the Bohart Museum of Entomology on Crocker Lane.





Theme of the campuswide picnic is “The Heart of Our Community,” but over at the Bohart Museum, the theme is “The Good, the Bad and the Bugly.” The museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, will feature pollinators. The museum houses nearly 8 million specimens. It also houses a live “petting zoo,” comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and a rose-haired tarantula named Peaches, a crowd favorite.

At Briggs Hall, a new event is the Pollinator Pavilion, where visitors can see and learn about bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Pollination ecologist/graduate student Margaret “Rei” Scampavia is coordinating the project. “We're going to have painted lady butterflies, monarchs, male blue orchard bees, and a live bumblebee colony,” she said. Other events at the Pollinator Pavilion will include puppet shows, a chance to practice pollinator observations, museum specimens, and information on how individuals can help support healthy pollinator populations.

Favorite displays or activities returning to Briggs are the “Bug Doctor” booth, where an entomologist "is in" and will answer questions about insects; American cockroach races, where visitors can cheer their favorite cockroach to victory; maggot art, where participants can dip a maggot into non-toxic, water-based paint and let it crawl on white paper.

Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey will portray “Dr. Death,” showing methods used in forensic entomology in 122 Briggs. The Phil Ward lab will assemble a display on the incredible diversity of ants. The Sharon Lawler lab will display aquatic insects and answer any questions about them.

Visitors can sample six different varietals of honey at a honey tasting table in the Briggs courtyard. The flavors are coffee blossom, meadowfoam blossom, buckwheat, creamed clover, cotton and chestnut,  said Elina Niño, Extension apiculturist. A bee observation hive will be set up in across from the courtyard, where Niño and staff research associate Billy Synk will answer questions about bees.

Also at Briggs: graduate student Stacy Hishinuma and forest entomologist Steve Seybold, a chemical ecologist with the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Davis, and an affiliate of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will display forest insects. Medical entomology graduate students will set up displays about diseases vectored by mosquitoes and other insects.  The Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District will provide an educational exhibit about mosquito abatement. Exhibits also will include such topics as fly fishing/fly-tying.

The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM) will be giving away lady beetles, aka ladybugs, in front of Briggs Hall. They will answer questions about insects and display many of their books.

The Graduate Student Entomology Association (GMSA) and the Entomology Club will be out in force, coordinating and staffing the many insect activities. If you like bugs, you can buy an entomology t-shirt or have a bug painted on your face. The Bohart Museum also will be selling t-shirts and other items in its gift shop, which is open year-around.

If you're going to the parade, which starts at 9:30 a.m., be sure to check out the Entomology Club's float. It will not be an "itsy bitsy spider." It will be one ritsy gigantic spider!   Following the parade, the float will be showcased in front of Briggs Hall.

What a day it promises to be...the good, the bad, and the bugly...

The flameskimmers are back!

We've been waiting for the new generation of flameskimmers, aka firecracker skimmers (Libellula saturata), to visit our yard after the long winter.

On Sunday, a male flameskimmer did.

It perched on a bamboo stake, soaked up some rays, took flight, and then returned to its perch. It glittered in the morning sun, a ruby helicopter of an insect. Finally, it clumsily took off, zigging and zagging over the cherry laurel hedge.

Meanwhile, a Western scrub jay nesting in the cherry laurels tracked its movements.

Says Wikipedia: "Due to its choice habitat of warm ponds, streams, or hot springs, flame skimmers are found mainly in the southwestern part of the United States. They also make their homes in public gardens or backyards."

"An immature flame skimmer (nymph) feeds mainly on aquatic insects. Its diet consists of mosquito larvae, aquatic fly larvae, mayfly larvae, freshwater shrimp, small fish, and tadpoles. The nymphs, which live in the mud at the bottom of warm streams or ponds, catch their prey by waiting patiently for it to pass by. Adult skimmers usually feed on moths, flies, ants, or any other soft-bodied insect while waiting perched on a small rock or twig or while flying through the air."

It's our fish pond that draws dragonflies to our yard. To accommodate them, we've posted a dozen bamboo stakes at different heights, from four feet to six feet. Finches and hummingbirds perch on them, too.

To be honest, however, the bamboo stakes are mainly for the dragonflies. (But don't tell that to the finches and hummers.)