- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
But oh, the memories!
"Friends of the Bohart" annually host the fun-filled event. Members of the organization and their invited guests don costumes, munch on refreshments, cut a cake, and hit a pinata. Last year entomology doctoral student Charlotte Herbert Alberts and husband, George crafted a parasitoid pinata. (See Bug Squad blog)
The decorations? Think insect-themed pumpkins--or arthropod-themed pumpkins, as some depict spiders and bedbugs. (Arthropods are invertebrates with external skeletons and jointed legs.)
The Bohart crew, always innovative, puts art into science, and science into art. Their carved pumpkins are incredible. (See photos of some of the pumpkins they've carved in years past.)
The Bohart Museum (temporarily closed), is directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis. Located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, it 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. In addition, it maintains a live "petting zoo," featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks or stick insects, tarantulas; and a year-around gift shop stocked with T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
The staff includes Steve Heydon, senior museum scientist; Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator; and Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) collection. Bohart associates include naturalist Greg Kareofelas, a regular at the open houses and especially in the Lepidoptera collection.
More information on the Bohart Museum is available on its website at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by contacting (530) 752-0493 or bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.