- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology has plenty of insect-themed gifts.
The Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, operates a year-around gift shop, filled with T-shirts, jewelry, posters, books, bug-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy, including chocolate-dipped scorpions, crunchy crickets, and protein-rich lollipops.
Two of the latest books available in the gift shop are Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (Princeton University Press) and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday), co-authored by native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis. Thorp is an associate at the Bohart Museum and maintains an office in the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.
The book, geared for kindergarten through sixth-grade classrooms, and also a favorite of adults, tells the untold story of the California dogface butterfly (Zerene eurydice), and how a classroom successfully mounted a campaign to name it the California state insect. Illustrations by artist Laine Bauer, a UC Davis graduate, and photographs by naturalist Greg Kareofelas, a Bohart Museum volunteer, depict the life cycle of this butterfly and show the host plant, false indigo (Amorpha californica). Net proceeds from the sale of this book are earmarked for the education, outreach and research programs at the Bohart Museum.
Gift shop items are available both in the store (Monday through Thursday) and online, http://www.bohartmuseum.com/.
Among the favorites gifts at the Bohart Museum:
- T-shirts depicting images of dragonflies, butterflies, beetles and moths
- Bohart Museum coffee mug
- Insect collecting net
- Posters of butterflies of Central Californian, Dragonflies of California, and the California Dogface butterfly
- Butterfly habitat
- Jewelry depicting bees, butterflies, dragonflies and ladybugs (many of the boxes are engraved with the Bohart logo and treasured)
- Science kits
- Insect and spider books
- Insect magnets
The Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) offers t-shirts to fund its educational activities. The newest t-shirt, design by grad student Danny Klittich, who studies with major professor Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is of a honey bee exiting a honeycomb.
Other popular EGSA shirts depict a dung beetle, “They See Me Rollin'”; a “cuddling moth” for infants and toddlers; a weevil shirt, “See No Weevil, Hear No Weevil, Speak No Weevil”; and “The Beetles” shirt, of four beetles crossing Abbey Road, reminiscent of The Beatles pictured on their Abbey Road album. The shirts can be ordered from Margaret “Rei” Scampavia at mrscampavia@ucdavis.edu.
Another bug gift: the pollinator notecards being sold by the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, directed by Amina Harris. The photos of insects, including bees and butterflies, were donated by communication specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, who captured most of the images in her bee garden The notecards are available from the Center office (in the Robert Mondavi Insitute for Wine and Food Science on Old Davis Road) and at the UC Davis Bookstore, among other places.