- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's October and Arachtober: the month to celebrate spiders and other arachnids.
As arachnologists will tell you, arachnids are arthropods that include spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and vinegaroons.
Arachnids need love, too, especially in October when spiders compete with ghosts, goblins and ghouls for your attention.
Meanwhile, scientists and arachnid fans are posting their favorite eight-legged images on their websites and social media.
Even Flickr celebrates Arachtober via a photography pool formed in September 2008. "The pool is open! Thanks everyone for participating, spreading the spider love, and making this fun!...This group is similar to a 365 group, the goal is to post spiders to Flickr daily during October. When you shot them is less important...Post what you have. You can either post them daily till you run out, spread them out every few days, or save them till Halloween week for Spider Blitz. Spiders are especially popular around then."
His five good reasons to love spiders?
- Spiders consume 400-800 million tons of prey, mostly insects, each year. Humans consume somewhere around 400 million tons of meat and fish each year.
- Spider silk is one of the strongest naturally occurring materials. Spider silk is stronger than steel, stronger and more stretchy than Kevlar; a pencil thick strand of spider silk could be used to stop a Boeing 747 in flight.
- Some spiders are incredibly fast – able to run up to 70 body lengths per second (10X faster than Usain Bolt).
- Although nearly all 47,000-plus spider species have venom used to kill their insect prey, very few actually have venom that is harmful to humans.
- Some spiders are really good parents –wolf spider moms carry their young on their backs until they are ready to strike out on their own; female trapdoor spiders keep their broods safe inside their burrows often longer than one year, and some female jumping spiders even nurse their spiderlings with a protein rich substance comparable to milk.
Happy Arachtober! Here are three jumping spiders that you can love, or try to love....Then on March 14 you celebrate Save a Spider Day.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
An international leader in honey bee research--Juliana Rangel Posada--will speak on "Don't Compromise: Food Lipid Content Shapes Protein-Lipid Regulation in Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera) Nurses" at 4:10 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7 in 122 Briggs Hall. Her seminar also will be broadcast on Zoom. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.
Can't attend or Zoom in? Her seminar will be archived on the Entomology and Nematology seminar website at https://entomology.ucdavis.edu/seminars.
"Regulating nutrient intake is a fundamental and multidimensional challenge for all animals," Posada says in her abstract. "Typically, animals prioritize macronutrient intake, and we know much about protein-carbohydrate regulation. In contrast, we know relatively little about protein-lipid regulation, especially among palynivores like bees that feed on food (pollen) that has high, but variable, protein and lipid content."
"Using a Geometric Framework or nutrition experimental approach, we show that nurse honey bees (Apis melliera) maximized their protein-lipid intake on diets that had a 3:2 protein:lipid ratio and that it was lowest on highly lipid-based diets," she continued. "In choice experiments with nutritionally complementary diets, bees self-selected a protein-based diet. However, total consumption was suppressed when a lipid-biased food was present. Our collective results suggest bees actively regular the intake of both protein and lipid, but that lipid regulation is particularly strict. Our findings have implications for honey bee and palynivore ecology, and nutritional ecology more broadly."
Posada joined the TAMU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty in January 2013. She is active in the Texas Beekeepers Association and has addressed dozens of beekeeping associations across the United States and internationally.
Posada and her research group at Texas A&M found that a widely used pesticide—the miticide amitraz—used to protect honey bees from mite infestation, has an effect on mating among the queens. (See Entomology Today, a publication of the Entomological Society of America)
She's also an outstanding teacher, the recipient of TAMU awards and the 2023 Excellence Achievement Award in Teaching, Southwestern Branch of the Entomological Society of America.
Nematologist Amanda Hodson, assistant professor, is coordinating the ENT seminars. The full list is here. For more information or for technical issues, contact Hodson at akhodson@ucdavis.edu.
Resources:
- Interview with a Social Insect Scientist, published in 2017 by Insectessociaux
- Biology of Mating, National Honey Show Lecture Series 2015, YouTube
- Bee Happy: Maximizing Honey Bee Characteristics for Health Bees, Finding Genus Podcast
- Posada lab Facebook page: facebook.com/TAMUhoneybeelab
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Maybe not so much when it's a lady beetle (aka ladybug), or a butterfly.
But Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects sometimes get many a "yecch" before they get a definite "yay!"
Scientists at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis mean to change all that. Their open houses are free and family friendly. At their Sept. 28th open house, themed "Museum Fundamentals 101" or "Museum ABCs: Arthropods, Bohart and Collecting," the scientists fed the curiosity of kids and adults alike. The event drew some 300 visitors, ranging from toddlers to senior citizens.
The participants were introduced to how to collect, pin, identify and label insects. The children especially delighted in examining specimens under a microscope, and watching stick insects in the live petting zoo crawl up their arms.
A beaming Thea Schmidt, 4, of Folsom wore a butterfly dress that featured the striking Western tiger swallowtail, Papilio rutulus.
Elliot Sauder, 7, of Sacramento, a longtime lover of all things bugs, wore an equally striking T-shirt printed with "Giant Stag Beetle, Lucanus elaphus," and an image of the beetle.
Elliot shared a microscope with his sister, Sutton, 9, as their mother, Dr. Candice Sauder, a UC Davis Health surgeon, watched. "Elliot has loved bugs since he was 3 when he wanted to be a bug vet," she said.
UC Davis doctoral alumna Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College, a UC Davis entomology lecturer, and a Bohart research associate, said it well when she discussed the importance of insect museums:
The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946 by UC Davis professor Richard "Doc" Bohart (2013-2007), houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens. It is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. In addition to the petting zoo, it includes an insect-themed gift shop stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, books, posters and jewelry, among other items.
Bohart served as its first director. The second: His former graduate student Lynn Kimsey, now UC Davis distinguished professor emerita. She directed the museum from 1999 to Feb. 1, 2024 when the new director Professor Jason Bond, took the reins. He is the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The next open house, themed "Specialized Predators of Insects," is set from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 2. Featured will be two doctoral students who study predators: Christofer Brothers of the Stacey Combs lab, who researches dragonflies, and Emma Jochim of the Jason Bond lab, arachnids. They will present talks from 1 to 1:30 p.m. in a Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology classroom (next door to the Bohart Museum). Visitors will then gather in the Bohart Museum for more activities from 1:30 to 4 p.m.
"There will be live arachnid feedings on the hour, hands-on activities, and carnivorous plants for sale," said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
Can you visit the Bohart Museum at other times? Yes. Free public walk-ins take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 1 to 4:30 p.m. See more on the website or contact bmuseum@ucdavis.edu for more information.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
What's more fun that netting a butterfly?
Netting two (or more) butterflies.
UC Davis doctoral candidate and dragonfly researcher Christofer Brothers showed youngsters how to net butterflies--paper butterflies, that is--at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Sept. 28. The open house dealt with collecting, pinning identifying and labeling insects.
And appropriately enough, two brothers delighted in testing their skills: Braden Nguyen, 3, and Owen, 18 months old, of Davis. Their mother and grandmother accompanied them. "My three children all visited the Bohart Museum when they were growing up," said grandmother Kathy Bechtold of Davis, "and loved it."
It's a generational thing!
The open house, themed "Museum Fundamentals 101" or "Museum ABCs: Arthropods, Bohart and Collecting," drew some 300 visitors, ranging from toddlers to senior citizens. Displays lined the Bohart Museum and the hallway of the Academic Surge Building.
Among those sharing their knowledge was UC Davis doctoral alumna Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College and a lecturer in the UC Davis Department of Entomology andNematology. Keller, a Bohart research associate, showed and discussed collecting equipment, and emphasized the importance of insect collections. (See more on the Sept. 28th open house)
Braden and Owen were especially interested in the bee vacuums, a favorite of the late Robbin Thorp (1933-2019), UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor. He eagerly showed youngsters how to vacuum bees in the UC Davis Bee Haven, and then how to identify them and release them.
The Bohart Museum, the home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. In addition to the petting zoo, it includes an insect-themed gift shop stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, books, posters and jewelry, among other items. Director is Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
All the open houses are free and family friendly. Parking is also free. The next open house, themed "Specialized Predators of Insects," is set from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 2. Featured will be two doctoral students who study predators: Christofer Brothers of the Stacey Combs lab, who researches dragonflies, and Emma Jochim of the Jason Bond lab, arachnids. Public talks will take place from 1 to 1:30 p.m. in a Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology classroom (next door to the Bohart Museum). The Bohart will be open from 1:30 to 4 p.m.
"There will be live arachnid feedings on the hour, hands-on activities, and carnivorous plants for sale," said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
So quipped UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey about the portraits and multiple images of Richard "Doc" Bohart (1913-2007) gracing the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Saturday, Sept. 28, on what would have been his 111th birthday anniversary.
Bohart, an internationally recognized entomologist and a longtime UC Davis professor, founded the insect museum in 1946. It was renamed the Bohart Museum in 1983.
The 300 visitors at the open house visitors learned how to catch bugs, identify them, pin them and label them. They also learned about butterflies, moths, mosquitoes and ticks. As the open house concluded, they enjoyed a "Doc" birthday cake cut by the new Bohart Museum director, Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Kimsey served as the director of the Bohart for 34 years until her retirement on Feb. 1, 2024. Specializing in hymenoptera, she continues her research; directs the Bohart Museum Society; and writes and edits the quarterly newsletter.
Kimsey, who was one of Bohart's last graduate students before he retired, remembers him in the audio of a newly produced video by Walter Leal, UC Davis distinguished professor of molecular and cellular biology and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. Included are her archived PowerPoint images of the professor, and video excerpts from her 1996 interview of "Doc" Bohart in an Aggie Video production. (See https://youtu.be/3YqnK-CpbJE)
The video heralds Bohart's 60 years of entomological work, documents his childhood passion for insects, relates that his first publication (1936) featured Strepsiptera (twisted-wing parasites), and lists many of the species that bear his name. He authored two landmark books, Sphecid Wasps of the World (with Arnold Menke), and The Chrysidid Wasps of the World (with Lynn Kimsey), as well as 230 journal articles and four other books on wasps and mosquitoes, including the 2nd and 3rd editions of The Mosquitoes of California (the 2nd with Stanley Freeborn and the 3rd with Robert Washino). During his career, he described more than 200 new species and genera of insects.
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, is the home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens. It also houses a live petting zoo (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, tarantulas and more) and an insect-themed gift shop, stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, books, posters and jewelry, among other items.