UC Davis doctoral candidate Iris Quayle points to images of butterflies and moths. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

That was a key question asked at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's annual Moth Night, held both indoors and outdoors on the UC Davis campus on Saturday, July 20. 

Doctoral student Iris Quayle of the laboratory of Professor Jason Bond, director of the Bohart (and the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair of UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, Agricultural Sciences, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences), staffed a station explaining the differences. 

Some major points:

• Both butterflies and moths are members of the order Lepidoptera and both are pollinators.
• Both go through a complete metamorphosis, from egg to larva (caterpillar) to pupa to adult. Butterflies pupate in a chrysalis while a moth pupates in a cocoon.
• A butterfly's antennae have club-like tips whereas moths have feathery, thick, comb-like antennae. 
• Butterflies are diurnal or active during the day, while moths are generally active at night. But some moths, including the white-lined sphinx moth, are both diurnal and nocturnal (active at night).
• Generally, a butterfly's wings are brightly colored and moths are dull in color, but not always. Some moths, such as the Ranchman's tiger moth, are beautifully colored.

Globally, scientists have described about 18,000 species of butterflies and 180,000 species of moths, "and hundreds of newly named species are added every year," according to Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart. "It's also believed that we may know of no more than 10-15 percent of the species actually out there, with the small 'micro-Lepidoptera' likely with over 90 percent of the species in the world still unknown. This emphasizes the importance of preserving natural environments so things don't go extinct before we can ever recognize their importance to the Earth and their relationships in their habitats."

The Bohart Museum's global collection of 8 million insects includes some 825,454 specimens of moths and butterflies, including 618,750 moths, ranging in size from the huge Atlas moths (10-inch wingspan) to the extremely tiny (4 mm wingspan) leafminer moths.  

Founded in 1946, the Bohart Museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. The open houses are free and family friendly. The next open house is on Saturday, Sept. 28 from 1 to 4 p.m. The theme: "Museum ABC's: Arthropods, Bohart and Collecting." Check out the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or email bmuseum@ucdavis.edu for more information.

The newly published field guide describing all 73 dragonfly species in California.

Did you know that there are 73 species of dragonflies  (Anisoptera) in California?

We've been waiting for an updated field guide book on our state's dragonflies, and now it's here.

Dragonfly experts Kathy Biggs and Sandra von Arb have just announced their newly published book, Dragonflies (Anisoptera) of California,published by Nature/Field Guides. It's a 200-page, spiral-bound book, rich with images, and featuring ALL of the 73 known species of dragonflies in California (many of these dragonflies also inhabit nearby states). 

We remember Biggs and von Arb sharing their expertise at a dragonfly open house at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, on Sept. 20, 2015 with international dragonfly authority Rosser Garrison,  author of Dragonfly Genera of the New World: an llustrated and Annotated Key to the Anisoptera (now a retired insect biosystematist, California Department of Food and Agriculture); and Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas. UC Davis doctoral candidate Christofer Brothers also has shared his expertise on dragonflies at Bohart Museum open houses.

Biggs and von Arb relate they met through their shared passion for dragonflies. Biggs? An experienced dragonfly guide and author. Von Arb? A biologist and founder of the Biodiversity Education and Research Foundation, commonly known as BEAR or BEAR Foundation. (It is currently offline)

The authors point out that the book contains:

• More than 146 full-color photographs of both the males and females and their descriptions (photos also include nymph/exuvia for each genus)
• Habitat, distribution maps, flight periods, behaviors, similar species and oviposition techniques for each species
• Clear and easy-to-use format

Among the photographers contributing to the book are Pierre Deviche, Jim Johnson and Matthew Matthiessen. "Greg (Kareofelas) has a thumbnail showing a close-up of one of a snake tail faces showing the horns on the females," Biggs added.

You can order the book here. The link shows sample pages as well. It may be available soon from the Bohart Museum of Entomology gift shop, where Biggs also has dragonfly books.

Now, I'm waiting for that flameskimmer to snag a flying insect, just as its ancestors did. Dragonflies existed before the Age of Dinosaurs; dinosaurs lived during the Mesozoic Era (and that was 252 to 66 million years ago). Indeed, fossil records show that these dragonfly ancestors were the world's largest flying insects, some with wing spans measuring three feet.

Two sheep moth specimens, Hemileuca eglanterina, at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Those who attended the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on social wasps, held Jan. 20, learned all about them from entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the lepidoptera collection, and Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas.

Many of the day-flying, beautifully colored sheep moths are commonly mistaken for butterflies. 

"We have around 50 drawers of moths in the genus Hemileuca, often called Buck Moths, and the genus is comprised of 24 species in North America," Smith said. "It is likely this will expand as studies with DNA more accurately define species and relationships. The "Sheep Moth,"  Hemileuca eglanterina, takes up around 10 drawers in the Bohart Museum. It is a highly variable species, ranging from nearly black to pink/yellow to the typical orange with black markings. In all, we likely have around 400-500 specimens of this species."

Smith takes a special interest in the Bohart Museum's sheep moths, as many were collected by his brother, the late Mike Smith, a 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran. Mike, who moved to Folsom following his retirement, "raised many hundreds of the moths in the Hemileuca from caterpillars and eggs," Jeff said. "I suspect his goal (Mike died in 2003) would have been to make some sense of the great geographic variability in some of the species, such as Hemileuca hera, which ranges from nearly white to nearly black, depending on the locale it is found in."

"Given the theme of 'social wasps' for the event, visitors were fascinated by the great many moths that so closely resemble wasps and bees, in the families Sesiidae (clearwing moths), Sphingidae the genus Hemaris) and Erebidae, the subfamily Arctiinae or tiger moths," Smith said. "They also enjoyed species such as the Atlas Moths, Luna Moth, Death Head Moth, and others that we guided them to."

There's much misinformation on the Internet about "sheep moth infestations" on sheep, Smith said. "The sheep moth, Hemileuca eglanterina,  absolutely does NOT feed on anything to do with sheep. The larvae eat only plants. However, one website said that moth larvae--presumably clothes moths--will feed on the wool while it is still on a sheep, which is FALSE. These larvae feed only on things long gone from any animal, like hair, feathers, wool, felt, etc."

The Bohart Museum, directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. It houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live petting zoo (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, taranatulas and more) and an insect-themed gift shop, stocked with T-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, books, posters, and jewelry. 

The next Bohart Museum open house is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 10, during the 13th annual UC Davis Biodiverity Museum Day. It is one of 10 museums or collections open, with varying hours. The event is free and family friendly.

John de Benedictus

The open house showcased moths, in celebration of National Moth Week, and spotlighted flies, in keeping with the 10th International Dipterology Congress, held July 16-21 in Reno. Bohart officials dedicated the open house to the late Jerry Powell, international moth authority and a former director of the Essig Museum of Entomology, UC Berkeley, who died July 8 at age 90.

A blacklighting display, near the entrance to the Bohart Museum, drew night-flying insects to a white sheet, illuminated by an ultraviolet light.

"There were not many moths," said "Moth Man" John de Benedictus, a research entomologist associate with the Bohart Museum and a former graduate student of Powell's. "Only about 5 or six in all. All but two were the so-called Dusky Raisin Moth, Ephestiodes gilvescentella,which comes as no surprise as it is the most common moth in my yard and probably throughout Davis.  Its caterpillar feeds on a wide variety of plants, including dried fruit and nuts, but it is not a major pest. There were two granite moths, probably Digrammia californiaria, and/or Digrammia muscariata.  The younger kids entertained themselves by pointing out or trying to catch the other insects that flew in, mainly gnats and other small flies; a few beetles, including lady bugs; some aquatic bugs; and a couple of lacewings and earwigs.  An older boy collected some ants that marched to the sheet."

Entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the Bohart Museum's Lepidoptera collection, and Bohart associate and naturalist Greg Kareoelas, showed visitors many of the moth specimens, including death's-head hawkmoths, featured in the 1991 movie, Silence of the Lambs. In the movie, serial killer, Buffalo Bill (played by Ted Levine), stuffs death's-head hawkmoths inside his victims' throats. FBI trainee Clarice Starling (played by Jodie Foster) seeks the advice of the cannibalistic psychiatrist, Hannibal Lecter (played by Anthony Hopkins), to solve the mystery. The moths appearing in the movie are Acherontia stropos. The moth markings resemble a human skull. 

The Bohart Museum, directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, including some 500,000 moths or butterflies (60 percent moths and 40 percent butterflies). The museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. During the summer, the Bohart Museum is open to the public on Tuesdays from 2 to 5 p.m. For more information, contact the Bohart Museum at bmuseum@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0493.

(More images from the Bohart Museum open house, "A Night at the Museum," will appear this week on Bug Squad)