- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The family friendly event, free and open to the public, will take place in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus.
Folks are encouraged to bring in pests they find in the home, including cockroaches, carpet beetles, termites, flies/fruit flies, cellar spiders, earwigs, house centipedes and pantry pests. Entomologists will identify the pests and explain more about them.
All pests are "fair game" except for parasites. Those come later: on Jan. 22, the Bohart Museum is planning an open house themed “Parasite Palooza: Botflies, Fleas and Mites, Oh My!”
At the Nov. 19th open house, the Bohart will showcase live insects, including Indian meal moths, clothes moths, and earwigs, as well as specimens.
For the arts and crafts activity, UC Davis senior entomology major Karissa Merritt has drawn a sawtoothed grain beetle and cigarette beetle and other pests, for children to color and/or adorn with grains of rice and other materials.
The open house will feature a number of stuffed animals in its gift shop, including lice, ants, tardigrades, bed bugs and mosquitoes. A zippered monarch butterfly, illustrating caterpillar, chrysalis and adult stages, is another new addition. Also new: handmade insect collection boxes by Bohart Museum associate and entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the butterfly and moth collection.
One of the most unique gifts: With a donation to the Bohart BioLegacy Program, donors can name a newly discovered and described insect after a loved one.
The gift shop, open year around, is filled with T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy. Among the books:
- California Bees and Blooms and Bumble Bees of North America, both co-authored by Robbin Thorp, UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor of entomology and a Bohart assocaiate
- Story of the Dogface Butterfly by Bohart associates: entomologist Fran Keller, naturalist and photographer Greg Kareofelas and artist Laine Bauer. The dogface butterfly is the state insect.
The Bohart Museum,directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis professor of entomology, is a world-renowned insect museum that houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It also maintains a live “petting zoo,” featuring walking sticks, Madagascar hissing cockroaches and tarantulas. The 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 bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.