- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Her poster, “Estimating Age Structure of Wild Anopheles Populations Using the Captive Cohort Method,” won her a $50 check and certificate.
Kurniawan is seeking her master's degree in entomology. She is advised by two major professors, Associate Dean Edwin Lewis of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and molecular biologist Shirley Luckhart, professor, UC Davis Department of Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Medicine. Luckhart is a graduate student advisor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology and also co-directs the Center for Vectorborne Diseases.
Another advisor is distinguished professor James R. Carey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, who serves on her thesis committee.
Also working with Kurniawan on the poster project was staff research associate Kong Cheung of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
Kurniawan recently won a 2015 William Hazeltime Memorial Research Fellowship Award to support her research. Of her work, she says: “I am adapting methods for estimating age structure of Anopheles mosquito populations using the captive cohort method developed by Dr. James Carey. It is a potentially inexpensive and practical alternative for real-time surveillance of mosquito populations. I currently am testing this method on local populations of Anopheles freeborni from Sutter and Butte County rice fields.”
Kurniawan became interested in medical entomology in middle school after contracting dengue on a trip to Indonesia to visit relatives. “No one in America knew about this disease, not even my pediatrician,” she recalled. “This made me interested in vector-borne diseases and mosquitoes.”
A lifelong resident of California and an alumnus of UC Davis, Kurniawan received her bachelor's degree in animal biology with a minor in medical and veterinary entomology.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Bohart Museum's gift shop includes a variety of gifts, including jewelry, t-shirts, posters, notecards, insect-collecting equipment, and new and used books.
The EGSA is offering its newest line of t-shirts, a design featuring a long-legged wasp (new species!) on a penny-farthing and other favorites, all created by graduate students or undergraduate students affiliated with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Here's what's available at the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 Academic Surge on Crocker Lane.
- Earrings and necklaces (with motifs of bees, dragonflies, moths, butterflies and other insects)
- T--shirts for babies, children and adults (walking sticks, monarch butterflies, beetles, dragonflies, dogface butterflies and the museum logo)
- Insect candy (lollipops with either crickets and scorpions, and chocolate-covered scorpions)
- Insect-themed food, Chapul bars made with cricket flour, and flavored mealworms and crickets
- Insect collecting equipment: bug carriers, nets, pins, boxes, collecting kits
- Plastic insect toys and stuffed animals (mosquito, praying mantis, bed bug and others)
- Handmade redwood insect storage boxes by Bohart Museum associate Jeff Smith
- Posters (Central Valley butterflies, dragonflies of California, dogface butterfly), prints of selected museum specimens
- Books by museum-associated authors:
The Story of the Dogface Butterfly (Fran Keller, Greg Kareofelas and Laine Bauer), Insects and Gardens Insects and Gardens: In Pursuit of a Garden Ecology (Eric Grissell), Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (co-authored by Robbin Thorp), California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (co-authored by Robbin Thorp), Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento Region (Art Shapiro), Butterfly Wish (Steve Stoddard, pen name S.S. Dudley), and multiple dragonfly books by Kathy Biggs. - Notecards of bees and other pollinators by Kathy Keatley Garvey and Mary Foley Benson's wasp and caterpillar art
- Bohart logos (youth t-shirts, stickers and patches
- Used books
- Gift memberships
- Naming of insect species
“I wanted an insect that would be able to put its abdomen on the seat and have long enough legs to reach the pedals,” she said. She solved the dilemma by creating a “new species” of wasp and drawing the majority of votes from faculty, staff and students to win the annual contest. The result: “Hymenoptera on Bicycle.”
“I love the new design and think it translated very well on the t-shirts,” said EGSA treasurer and entomology graduate student Cindy Preto of the Frank Zalom lab. “ I expect it to be a great seller.”
It can be ordered in unisex heather navy with white lettering ($15 for small, medium, large, extra large and 2x); youth navy with white print ($15 for small, medium and large); and women's cut, heather red with light yellow print ($17 for small, medium and large).
The t-shirts from years past, all favorites, include "The Beetles" (reminiscent of The Beatles' Abbey Road album), a weevil (See no weevil, hear no weevil, speak no weevil), a dung beetle, honey bee and comb, and a "wanna bee."
Among the other favorites is "Entomology's Most Wanted." Former graduate students Nicholas Herold and Emily Bzydk featured "bug shots" (a take-off of "mug shots") of the malaria mosquito (Anopheles gambiae), the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) bed bug, (Cimex lecturalius), and the housefly (Musca domestica).
Another gift could be for a beekeeper. Extension apiculturist Elina Niño and staff research associates Bernardo Niño and Charley Nye and graduate student Tricia Bohls are teaching beekeeping classes and those who wish to surprise a beekeeper or a prospective beekeeper with a gift—a workshop—can do so. Check out the list of courses.
The Honey and Pollination Center, directed by Amina Harris, also has a variety of gift items, including notecards and honey. This just in: orange blossom honey. Her email is aharris@ucdavis.edu
And if you want a new insect species named for you, contact the Bohart Museum of Entomology: Lynn Kimsey at lskimsey@ucdavis.edu or Tabatha Yang at tabyang@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Jacobs will discuss her newly published book, “Jonas Salk: a Life,” which chronicles the life of whom she describes as “one of America's most beloved and decorated scientific heroes.”
The LASER event, to be held from 7 to 9 p.m. in Room 3001 of the Plant and Environmental Sciences Building, will feature four speakers from the arts and sciences, who will present 20-minute talks on several disciplines, including medicine, visual art and astrophysics.
The event is free and open to the public. It is affiliated with the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion, co-founded by entomologist/artist Diane Ullman, professor of entomology at UC Davis, and self-described rock artist Donna Billick.
Jacobs, who currently cares for U.S. military cancer patients at the Palo Alto Veterans Medical Center, is the Ben and A. Jess Shenson Professor of Medicine (emeritus) at Stanford University. A native of Kingsport, Tenn., she studied medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. As a professor at Stanford University, she engaged in teaching, cancer research, and patient care. She received numerous awards for excellence in patient care and teaching, as well as the Distinguished Alumni Award from Washington University.
LASER organizer Anna Davidson serves as the moderator. She received her doctorate in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences and is currently a master of fine arts student at UC Davis.
Other speakers, all from the local or Bay Area, are:
8:10-8:35 p.m.: Rachel Clarke, artist and educator teaching new media art at California State University, Sacramento, will speak on “Merging Spaces,” about her latest art work, which combines physical and virtual modes of making
8:35-9 p.m.: Andreas Albrecht, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Physics, will speak on “What Is Time.” He is a leading theoretical physicist who specializes in understanding the origins of the universe will be talking about “time.”
In his origami talk, Lang says he will discuss the techniques used in mathematical origami design, which range from the abstruse to the highly approachable. “I will describe the geometric concepts led to the solution of a broad class of origami folding problems – specifically, the problem of efficiently folding a shape with an arbitrary number and arrangement of flaps.”
Lang holds a doctorate in applied physics from California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and during his work at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Spectra Diode Laboratories, and JDS Uniphase, authored or co-authored more than 100 papers and 50 patents in lasers and optoelectronics as well as authoring, co-authoring, or editing 14 books and a CD-ROM on origami.
Clarke's work involves video and animation, installation, augmented reality and experimental 3D, and has been shown in galleries, museums, new media art festivals and film screenings nationally and internationally.
Professor Albrecht says that “Time is a central part of everyday life, yet it can still seem very mysterious.” He will discuss time from a physicist's point of view “in a way that takes us from every day experiences to deep questions about the cosmos.” He is a member of the new Center for Quantum Mathematics and Physics at UC Davis.
Related Links:
For more information on the program, see
https://www.facebook.com/events/1732840033613610/
For directions:
http://www.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/plantsciences/visitors/map.htm
Contact information:
Anna Davidson: adavidson@ucdavis.edu
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
In fact, it's a “Recycling Man” Styrofoam head and mealworms are eating it from the inside out.
Mealworms, commonly fed to captive reptiles and amphibians, “can chew and digest Styrofoam” and that's exactly what they are doing, said UC Davis entomology undergraduate student Wade Spencer, who set up the display Nov. 18.
The open house is set from 1 to 4 p.m., in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane.
Spencer purchased a Styrofoam head online, obtained a Styrofoam insert from a bicycle helmet, and inserted 60 mealworms, or larvae of the darkling beetles.
“Listen and you can hear them chewing,” he said. They will emerge as darkling beetles, the common name of the large family of beetles, Tenebrionidae. The insects are known as plant scavengers, as they feed on decaying leaves, rotting wood, dead insects and other matter.
“This is a recycling project that's all in the head,” Wade quipped
“It turns out that mealworms have some hidden talents,” said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and professor of entomology at UC Davis. “They're not just good for feeding to pet reptiles or eating in snacks from HotLix. “These darkling beetle larvae have some dynamic gut bacteria.”
Also at the open house, visitors are encouraged o bring insect or spider specimens and ask questions of the entomologists. The specimens could include everything from bed bugs to fleas to spiders.
Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, will be available for discussions on bumble bees and other pollinators, and will sign his books. He is the co-author of “Bumble Bees of North America: An identification Guide” (Princeton University) and “California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists” (Heyday).
The Bohart Museum hosts special weekend hours, free and open to the public. Families are encouraged to attend.
The Bohart Museum 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.
Special attractions include a “live” petting zoo, featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and a rose-haired tarantula named “Peaches.” Visitors are invited to hold the insects and photograph them.
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. The museum 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 by contacting (530) 752-0493 or email bmuseum@ucdavis.edu. Tabatha Yang tabyang@ucdavis.edu) does public education and outreach and conducts groups tours.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
DAVIS--They're the national champs!
The UC Davis Linnaean Games Team, comprised of four graduate students in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, won the National Linnaean Games Championship at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Entomological Association of America (ESA), held recently in Minneapolis. See YouTube video at https://youtu.be/_hA05K0NET4.
They did so by correctly answering such questions as:
“What is the smallest insect that is not a parasite or parasitoid?”
“Nicrophorus americanus is listed under what legislative act?” and
“What are the three primary conditions that define eusociality?”
The UC Davis team defeated powerhouse University of Florida 130 to 70 to win its first-ever national championship in the 32-year history of the ESA's Linnaean Team Games.
The Davis team is comprised of captain Ralph Washington Jr., and members Brendon Boudinot, Jessica Gillung and Ziad Khouri, and is advised by faculty members Larry Godfrey, Extension entomologist, and Elina Niño, Extension apiculturist.
The Linnaean Games is a college-bowl type competition in which teams answer questions about insects and entomologists. The teams hold practice sessions throughout the year.
The UC Davis Linnaean Games Team earlier won the regional competition hosted by the Pacific Branch of ESA. They defeated Washington State University in the finals. Both teams competed at the nationals.
Washington is studying for his doctorate with major professors Steve Nadler and Brian Johnson, who respectively specialize in systematics and evolutionary biology of nematodes and the evolution, behavior, genetics, and health of honeybees; Boudinot with major professor Phil Ward, systematics and evolutionary biology of ants; and Jessica Gillung and Ziad Khouri with major professor Lynn Kimsey, who specializes in the biology and evolution of insects. Kimsey directs the Bohart Museum of Entomology.
“They played well and obviously studied hard,” said Gamesmaster Deane Jorgenson, who chaired the event and asked the questions. She is a research scientist at Syngenta, Burnsville, Minn.
Toss-Up Question: What is the smallest insect that is not a parasite or parasitoid?
Answer: Beetles in the family Ptiliidae.
Bonus Question:Some species of mosquitoes lay eggs that can undergo diapause or aestivation. Give at least three cues that trigger the aquatic eggs to hatch.
Answer: Temperature, immersion in water, concentration of ions or dissolved solutes.
Toss-Up Question: Chikungunya is an emerging vector-borne disease in the Americas. Chikungunya is derived from the African Language Makonde. What means Chikungunya in Makonde?
Answer: Bending up.
Toss-Up Question: A Gilson's gland can be found in what insect order?
Answer: Trichoptera
Toss-Up Question: Certain Chrysomelid larvae carry their feces as a defensive shield. To what subfamily do these beetles belong?
Answer: Cassidinae.
Bonus Question: The first lepidopteran sex pheromone identified was bombykol. What was the first dipteran sex pheromone identified? Give the trade or chemical name.
Answer: Muscalure, Z-9-Tricosene. It is also one of the chemicals released by bees during the waggle dance.
Toss-Up Question: What famous recessive gene was the first sex-linked mutation demonstrated in Drosophila by T.H. Morgan?
Answer: White
Bonus Question: Cecidomyiidae are known as the gall flies. What is unique about the species Mayetiola destructor, and what is its common name?
Answer: Mayetiola destructor is the Hessian Fly, a tremendous pest of wheat. It does not form galls.
Toss-Up Question: Nicrophorus americanus is listed under what legislative act?
Answer: The Endangered Species Act
Toss-Up Question: In what insect order would you find hemelytra?
Answer: The order Hemiptera.
Toss-Up Question: The subimago stage is characteristic of what insect order?
Answer: The order Ephemeroptera
Bonus Question: A 2006 Science article by Glenner et al. on the origin of insects summarized evidence that Hexapods are nothing more than land-dwelling crustaceans, which is to say that the former group Crustacea is paraphyletic with respect to the Hexapoda. What hierarchical name has been used to refer to this clade?
Answer: Pancrustacea
Toss-Up Question: What are the three primary conditions that define eusociality?
Answer: Cooperative brood care, overlapping generations, and reproductive division of labor
A total of 10 teams competed in the 2015 Linnaean Games:
- Eastern Branch: Virginia Tech University and University of Maryland
- North Central Branch: Michigan State University and Purdue University
- Pacific Branch: UC Davis and Washington State University
- Southeastern Branch: University of Georgia and University of Florida
- Southwestern Branch: Oklahoma State University and Texas A&M
A YouTube video of the championship game will be posted soon. Last year North Carolina State University defeated the University of Florida to win the finals. The 2014 championship game is online at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA9TsFFmQBE&feature=youtu.be
Related Links:
National Championship on YouTube
Origin of Linnaean Games (Richard Levine in American Entomologist)
Previous Winners (Entomological Society of America)
