- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Then you'll want to attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on "Insects, Art and Culture" from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 15 on the UC Davis campus.
The Bohart Museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. The event is free and family friendly.
Among artists represented will be UC Davis graduate student Srdan Tunic; UC Davis undergraduate students Allen Chew, Francisco Basso and Brittany Kohler; and UC Davis alumna Megan Ma; plus the work of the late scientific illustrator Mary Foley Benson (1905-1992), employed by the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture, the Smithsonian before retiring and moving to Davis. She also did illustrations for several UC Davis entomologists.
Tunic, a UC Davis candidate for a master's degree in art history, will present a seminar on Benson from 11 a.m. to noon, Oct. 15, in Room 1010 of the TLC Teaching and Learning Complex, 482 Hutchison Drive. (See research story on Mary Foley Benson by forest entomologist Malcolm Furniss)
The family arts-and-crafts activity at the open house will be to "create your own Pokemon card," said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology. Also planned: eating insects, creating gall ghosts (from oak galls), learning about cochineal dyes, and showing off insect tattoos.
"We would love to have folks come and show off their insect tattoos," Kimsey said.
The UC Davis museum, founded in 1946 by noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007), is dedicated to teaching, research and service. It is the home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens. The collection is now the seventh largest in North America and includes terrestrial and fresh water arthropods. The museum is also home of the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity of California's deserts, mountains, coast, and the Great Central Valley. In addition, the Bohart features a live "petting zoo" (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas) and an insect-themed gift shop, stocked with T-shirts, hoodies, jewelry, posters, books and insect-collecting equipment.
The Bohart is open to the public year-around (except for holidays) Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m. It is closed to the public on Friday to enable research activities. Admission is free. For more information, access the website or contact the museum at bmuseum@udavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
What better way to celebrate Aggie Spirit Week, Oct. 10-16, on the UC Davis campus than to
- See specimens and live insects at the Bohart Museum of Entomology during the week, Oct. 10-13?
- Attend a Bohart Museum-hosted lecture on scientific illustrator Mary Foley Benson on Saturday, Oct. 15?
- Attend a Bohart open house themed "Insects, Art and Culture" on Saturday, Oct. 15?
Aggie Spirit Week, which began Monday, Oct. 10 and continues through Sunday, Oct. 16, is a celebration of "Homecoming, The Golden Society, Parent and Family Weekend and campus-wide events for Aggies across the globe," officials said.
Spirit Week. The Bohart Museum, home of a worldwide collection of eight million insect specimens, a live "petting zoo" (Madagascar hissing cockroaches stick insects and tarantulas), and a gift shop stocked with insect-themed items, is participating in Aggie Spirit Week four days this week (Monday through Thursday). Hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m. The insect museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane.
Open House! On Saturday, Oct. 15, a special open house on "Insects, Art and Culture" will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Bohart Museum. It's free and family friendly. "Come and learn about insects through the lenses of art and culture," said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. "This event is part of Spirit Week for Aggie students, parents and alumni, but all are welcome."
Seminar on Mary Foley Benson. One of the highlights of Aggie Spirit Week will be a seminar on the life and work of noted scientific illustrator Mary Foley Benson.Srdan Tunic, a candidate for a master's degree in art history, will present the seminar from 11 a.m. to noon, Oct. 15, in Room 1010 TLC Teaching and Learning Complex, 482 Hutchison Drive.
Benson (1905-1992), internationally known for her entomology and horticulture illustrations, served as scientific illustrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Entomology and the Smithsonian Institution. Later, as a resident of Davis, she engaged in other projects, including working for UC Davis entomologists. Much of her work appears in campus buildings, including Briggs Hall, home of the Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (See research story on Mary Foley Benson by forest entomologist Malcolm Furniss)
Tunic has spent the last year researching her life and work. He is one of the co-founders of initiatives Street Art Walks Belgrade, Kustosiranje / About and Around Curating. A graduate of the University of Belgrade and University of the Arts in Belgrade, Serbia, he holds degrees in both art history and cultural management. He anticipates receiving his master's degree from UC Davis in June 2023.
History of Bohart Museum. The UC Davis museum, founded in 1946 by noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007), is dedicated to teaching, research and service. It originated with two Schmitt boxes of insect specimens that Bohart had collected. The university named it the R. H. Bohart Museum of Entomology in 1982. Its insect collection is now the seventh largest in North America and includes terrestrial and fresh water arthropods. The museum is also home of the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity of California's deserts, mountains, coast, and the Great Central Valley.
Directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, the insect museum is open to the public year-around (except for holidays) Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon an from 1 to 5 p.m. It is closed to the public on Friday to enable research activities. Admission is free. For more information, access the website or contact the museum at bmuseum@udavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
They came to learn about wasps--"The Weird and Wonderful Wasps"--at the recent open house hosted by the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
They learned about such wasps as the Asian giant hornet (aka "murder hornets"), pteromalids, and fig wasps. But they also learned about other insects, including butterflies, moths, beetles, cockroaches, and Jerusalem crickets, while chatting one-on-one with scientists.
Among the scientists participating was postdoctoral researcher Severyn Korneyev, a Ukrainian entomologist who studies flies. At his station, a series of insects flashed on the screen as he shared information and fielded questions.
Korneyev, a researcher with the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Department of General and Applied Entomology, Kyiv, Ukraine, accepted a joint postdoctoral position with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) in September 2020. He joined the laboratory of Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, and the laboratory of Stephen Gaimari, Pest Diagnostics Branch, California Department of Food and Agriculture.
A member of the Ukrainian Entomological Society and the Entomological Society of America, Korneyev specializes in the systematics and taxonomy of the true fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae). His expertise includes morphological and molecular diagnostics, collection management, and the field collecting of insects. Korneyev is the lead author of "Phylogeny of the Genus Tephritis Latreille, 1804 (Diptera: Tephritidae)," published in May 2020 in Arthropod Systematics and Phylogeny. Gaimari is one of the co-authors.
Korneyev holds a doctorate in entomology (2016) from the I.I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He received both his bachelor's degree and his master's degree in zoology, with honors, from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Korneyev served as a 2017-2018 Fulbright scholar with the Research and Development Program. Michigan State University, East Lansing. He speaks his native tongue, Ukrainian, as well as English and Russian.
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens. It also is home to a live “petting zoo,” comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas; and an insect-themed gift shop, which includes t-shirts, sweatshirts, jewelry, books, posters and other items. The gift shop is open all year-around and is also online.
The insect museum is open to the public Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m., except holidays. (See schedule). More information is available on the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
The next Bohart open house, themed "Insects, Art and Culture," will take place from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 15. This event is part of Spirit Week (Oct. 10-16) for Aggie students, parents and alumni, but all are welcome. (See list of other fall special events on the Bohart website or on the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology website.)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
How do you say "insect" in the Turkish language?
That's a question posed by the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis, on its wall display of global flags and languages.
That was an easy question for Dr. Ismail Seker and his wife, Esin, who were among the special guests at the Bohart Museum's Sept. 25th open house, "Weird and Wonderful Wasps."
They are natives of Turkey.
Dr. Seker, a physician, photographer and author, was displaying some of his fig wasp images that he took in Turkey. He and Esin, also in the health field, divide their time between their native land, and Davis, where their son, Erkin Seker, serves as a professor in the UC Davis Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
No stranger to the Bohart Museum, Dr. Seker presented a program in 2019 on silkworm moths, displaying the eggs, larvae, pupae, adults, as well as silk fabric. He also displayed his newly published book on silkworms and shared his 13-minute video detailing the history of the silkworm moth and its life cycle. Dr. Seker is currently working on books showcasing chestnuts, olives and figs.
But back to the global display of flags and how to say "insect" in other languages. (See website)
So, how do you say "insect" in the Turkish language? Böcek.
And the Turkish flag? It's red with a white star and crescent.
The open house drew widespread interest in the Asian giant hornet (aka "murder hornets") pteromalids, oak galls, and fig wasps, among others. "Fig wasps are among the weirdest insects I can think of both in their obligatory relationship with plants and the strange looking males," said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology. "Females are winged and wasp-like; males on the other hand spend their entire lives in the fig fruits and look really strange and are wingless and often look like they only have four legs."
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, is open to the public Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m., except holidays. (See schedule). It houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens. It also is home to a live “petting zoo,” comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas; and an insect-themed gift shop, which includes t-shirts, sweatshirts, jewelry, books, posters and other items. The gift shop is open all year-around and is also online. More information is available on the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
Upcoming special events, all free and family friendly:
Saturday, Oct. 15, 1 to 4 p.m.
Insects, Art & Culture
Visitors will learn about insects through the lenses of art and culture. This event is part of Spirit Week (Oct. 10-16) for Aggie students, parents and alumni, but all are welcome.
Saturday, Oct. 15, 11 a.m. to 11:50 a.m.
Special Talk: Plants, Insects and Art: Mary Foley Benson's Scientific Illustrations
Location: Teaching and Learning Complex (TLC) Building, 482 Hutchison Drive, UC Davis campus
This event is part of Spirit Week for Aggie students, parents and alumni, but all are welcome. Srdan Tunic, a candidate for a master's degree in art history and a Bohart associate, will be highlighting the scientific illustrations of Mary Foley Benson (1905-1992), formerly of the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Entomology and the Smithsonian Institution and who later worked for UC Davis entomologists. Much of her work appears on campus. (See research story on the artist by Malcolm Furniss)
Sunday, Nov. 6, 1 to 4 p.m.
Dragonflies Rule!
Dragonflies are described as "the ultimate predator both in the water and the air." Visitors will meet scientists and natural historians who will share information on the world of dragonflies.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
These little insects pollinate figs, but some figs are self-pollinated.
"There's no real way to tell from the outside, but if the fig contains seeds it will have been pollinated [by a fig wasp],” UC Extension specialist Louise Shanahan, based at the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences, told writer Ali Francis of the magazine Bon Appétit in a Sept. 7, 2022 feature article, "What Do You Mean There Are Dead Wasps in My Figs?"
Now for the entomological side.
Fig wasps will be among the wasps discussed when the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis hosts an open house, "Weird and Wonderful Wasps" from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 25 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. It's free and family friendly.
"Fig wasps are among the weirdest insects I can think of both in their obligatory relationship with plants and the strange looking males," said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology. "Females are winged and wasp-like; males on the other hand spend their entire lives in the fig fruits and look really strange and are wingless and often look like they only have four legs."
Fig wasps belong to the superfamily Chalcidoidea and spend their larval stage inside figs. "Most are pollinators but others simply feed off the plant," according to Wikipedia. "The non-pollinators belong to several groups within the superfamily Chalcidoidea, while the pollinators are in the family Agaonidae. While pollinating fig wasps are gall-makers, the remaining types either make their own galls or usurp the galls of other fig wasps; reports of them being parasitoids are considered dubious."
Sunday's open house is the first open house of the academic year. The focus will be on a variety of wasps, including Asian giant hornets, aka "murder hornets," pteromalids, oak galls, and fig wasps, among others.
"At the wasp event, we will also have some photos from Dr. Ismail Seker, who earlier displayed his coffee table book on silk moths," said Tabatha Yang, the Bohart Museum's education and outreach coordinator. Seker, a Turkish-trained medical doctor, "has a book coming out on chestnuts next, but he is working on olives and figs as well," Yang added. (See Bug Squad blog on Dr. Seker's silk moth presentation at the Bohart Museum). Seker's son, Erkin Seker, is a UC Davis professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Visitors are also invited to hold and take images of the insects from the live "petting zoo," which will include Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects, also known as "walking sticks."
Visitors will learn about the smallest fairy wasps to the "murder hornets"; what role wasps play in plant galls and figs; and how to distinguish a parasitoid from a parasite. Kimsey will discuss the Asian giant hornet, Vespa mandarinia, dubbed by the news media as “the murder hornet." The Entomological Society of America recently established as its official common name, “northern giant hornet.”
The Bohart Museum is the home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens. It also houses a live “petting zoo,” comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas; and a gift shop with insect-themed items. More information is available on the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.