- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It walked.
When Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and UC Davis professor of entomology, glanced at a wall near the entrance of the Bohart Museum during a recent open house, she noticed something that wasn't part of the wall.
A stick insect, aka walking stick.
An escapee from the Bohart's live "petting zoo."
And it was doing what stick insects (Phasmatodea) do--it was molting.
“It should be finished by now,” Kimsey said, periodically keeping an eye on its progress.
"Twiggy" is now back in the petting zoo, awaiting the arrival of visitors to the Bohart Museum during the seventh annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17, when the public can explore the diversity of life at 13 museums and/or collections. For free. Times will vary from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or from noon to 4 p.m. The Bohart, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane and the home of nearly eight million insect specimens, will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (See more information on Biodiversity Day.)
Like all insects, stick insects have a head, thorax and abdomen and six legs. Their elongated bodies mimic a stick or straw. These "bug sticks" don't move fast (is that why they're calling "walking sticks" instead of "running sticks?"), but what a perfect camouflage from predators!
Entomologists tell us that before reaching the adult stage, a stick insect may shed its skin six to nine times, depending on the species and the gender. Its outer skeleton (skin) prevents it from growing so it sheds its skin to do so.
Stick insects are a favorite at the Bohart Museum petting zoo, which also includes Madagascar hissing cockroaches, praying mantises, and tarantulas. Visitors love to hold the sticks and photograph them. They can also purchase stick insect T-shirts in the Bohart Museum's year-around gift shop.
Ever see a stick insect molting? Here's a You Tube channel that depicts the process perfectly. You can also learn about them in this Fascinating Facts About Stick Insects.
A few facts from Wikipedia:
- The genus Phobaeticus includes the world's longest insects and can reach 12 inches long.
- Many species have a secondary line of defense in the form of startle displays, spines or toxic secretions
- Phasmatodea can be found all over the world except for the Antarctic and Patagonia.
- They are most numerous in the tropics and subtropics; the greatest diversity is found in Southeast Asia and South America, followed by Australia, Central America, and the southern United States.
- The island of Borneo has more species of Phasmatodea than any other place in the world: The count: 300 species.
- Many species of phasmids are parthenogenic, meaning the females lay eggs without needing to mate with males to produce offspring.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That includes parasitoids.
"Parasitoid Palooza!"
That was the theme of the open house hosted Saturday, Nov. 18 by the Bohart Museum of Entomology at its facility in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, University of California, Davis.
As Tabatha Yang, the Bohart Museum's education and outreach coordinator explained: "An insect parasitoid is a species whose immatures live off of an insect host, often eating it from the inside out. It is part of their life cycle and the host generally dies."
"Happy Parasitoid Day!" the lettering on the cards proclaimed, but several of the innovative youngsters decided they would mail the cards to Santa Claus at the North Pole, in case the jolly ol' gent needed to know more about them before boarding his sleigh.
Directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis professor of entomology, the Bohart Museum is the home of nearly eight million insect specimens, plus a “live” petting zoo, featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, praying mantids and tarantulas. Visitors are invited to hold some of the insects and photograph them.
The museum's gift shop, open year around, includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
Hours? The Bohart Museum is open to the public during its regular hours, from 9 a.m. to noon and from 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.
Upcoming open houses (all free and open to the public):
- Bug-Art@The Bohart on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018 from 1 to 4 p.m.
- Eight annual Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018, a daylong event featuring 12 UC Davis campus museums and collections, including the Bohart Museum.
- UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 21, 2018 a daylong event
More information on the Bohart Museum is available by contacting (530) 752-0493 or emailing bmuseum@ucdavis.edu or Tabatha Yang at tabyang@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
- You don't know until you try.
- You miss every opportunity you do not take.
- Each answer to a question creates new questions.
So began UC Davis alumnus Matan Shelomi when he returned to the UC Davis campus Wednesday, Nov. 15 to present a seminar on his stick insect research: "Revelations from Phasmatodea Digestive Track Transcriptomics."
Matan Shelomi, a Harvard graduate from New York City, earned his doctorate in entomology in 2014 from UC Davis, studying with major professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. He then received a National Science Foundation-funded postdoctoral position at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany. Today he's an assistant professor of entomology in the Department of Entomology at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan.
Shelomi focused his seminar on the digestive physiology of the stick and leaf insects, Phasmatodea, research that has taken him to three continents.
Kimsey introduced him as a terrific scientist and writer. Shelomi, with his quick wit and wry sense of humor, captivated his audience immediately.
One of his introductory slides read: The Unknown Unknowns
"...there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns--the ones we don't know we don't know."--Donald Rumsfeld.
You may know Matan Shelomi for his informative and entertaining posts on Quora. A top writer at Quora since 2013, he is followed by nearly 4000 subscribers and has answered more than 3000 questions. Or you may know him for his many accomplishments and honors/awards at UC Davis or at the Entomological Society of America meetings. Or his work at the Bohart Museum where he answered scores of questions about insects, greeting scientists, insect enthusiasts, and the general public alike. He was a regular at their regularly scheduled weekend open houses.
But back to his seminar: He defined a transcriptome as "sequencing of RNA expressed in given tissue at specific time and condition" and explained "RNA-sequence make cDNA from mRNA sequence."
He talked about stick insects producing cellulase and pectinase and about the research he's published, and new research that he hasn't. Yet. It's pending.
Each answer to a question led to more questions.
"Who knew?" he asked.
Shelomi closed his presentation with three points:
- "Transcriptomes reveal unknown unknowns."
- "There's still more left to discover."
- "Science is fun."
Shelomi said there's still many, many more questions to be answered on stick insects. "I'll leave that to others," he said, adding that he's now turned to studying the microbiome of dengue-vectoring mosquito breeding sites.
The take-away message?
"That in biology one cannot assume," Shelomi said. "Some things we thought were universal only seemed that way because we hadn't checked for alternatives, and then stopped looking. But biology is not math: there are few if any axioms. Every species is unique, and every rule has an exception. Sometimes the former rules are the exception, like animal cellulases: once thought nonexistant, we now see that they are the ancestral state, and species lacking them are the exception. Organs, proteins, species may have radically different functions from their most similar relative. There is obviously still a place for educated guesses, but until you check you never know for sure... and the search may reveal things you never even thought to look for."
The applause that followed his talk was loud and long.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Next week UC Davis alumnus Matan Shelomi will introduce you to his "sticks": the stick and leaf insects from the order Phasmatodea that he studies.
He'll present a seminar from 4:10 to 5 p.m., on Wednesday, Nov. 15 in 122 Briggs Hall, University of California, Davis, on "Revelations from Phasmatodea Digestive Track Transcriptomics." Hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, the seminar is open to all interested persons.
Shelomi, who holds a doctorate in entomology from UC Davis (Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at UC Davis served as his major professor) recently accepted a position as assistant professor of entomology in the Department of Entomology at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan.
Originally from New York City, the Harvard graduate (bachelor's degree in organismic and evolutionary biology) obtained his doctorate in entomology in 2014. He then received a National Science Foundation-funded postdoctoral position at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany. His past research has focused on the digestive physiology of the stick and leaf insects, Phasmatodea, although he is currently studying the microbiome of dengue-vectoring mosquito breeding sites.
You may know Matan Shelomi for his informative and entertaining posts on Quora. A top writer at Quora since 2013, he is followed by nearly 4000 subscribers and has answered more than 3000 questions. Or you may know him for his many accomplishments and honors/awards at UC Davis or at the Entomological Society of America meetings. Or his work at the Bohart Museum where he answered scores of questions about insects, greeting scientists, insect enthusiasts, and the general public alike. He was a regular at their regularly scheduled weekend open houses.
"The stick and leaf insects (order Phasmatodea) are an unusual, herbivorous order more closely related to webspinners and cockroaches than to grasshoppers and crickets," Shelomi says in his abstract. "Neither serious pests nor disease vectors, their biology has been poorly studied, yet recent work has revealed just how little we knew about their inner workings. Exclusive leaf-feeders, it was not known how they are able to thrive on such a diet and reach their record-setting lengths."
He will present the results of his research on Phasmatodean anatomy and evolution, spanning seven years and three continents.
Shelomi points out: "Using transcriptomics—the study of what genes are expressed in a given tissue at a different time—one can discover what enzymes are produced by the digestive tissues, what compounds are eliminated by the excretory tissues, and even guess the functions of mysterious tissues such as the 'appendices of the midgut,' a Phasmatodea-specific organ system whose physiological role was unknown for over a century. The diversity of Phasmatodean digestive enzymes includes some surprising members whose evolution in Insecta is changing what we thought we knew. As mysteries are solved and old hypotheses revised, Phasmatodea exemplify the scientists' search for the unknown and the hidden secrets the natural world waits to reveal."
Matan says he plans to present an informal seminar, one that he hopes will be both entertaining and informative.
Stick insects are a key part of the Bohart Museum's live "petting zoo," which is opento the public Monday through Thursday. In fact, back in 2012, two entomologists/Bohart associates designed a humorous t-shirt inscribed with “Know Your Sticks," featuring drawings of four sticks: a stick person, a real stick or twig, a Vietnamese walking stick and an Australian spiny stick (family Phasmatidae). It's available for sale in the Bohart Museum's gift shop.
Bohart associate Fran Keller, who received her doctorate in entomology at UC Davis and is now as assistant professor at Folsom Lake College, originated the idea of a stick t-shirt--in between studying for her doctoral degree in entomology and serving as a Bohart associate/volunteer. It was those stick figures trending on vehicle rear-windows that influenced and inspired her. “So we thought we'd clarify the sticks."
Keller designed the shirt. Ivana Li, then an undergraduate student and president of the UC Davis Entomology Club and now a staff research associate in the Department of Evolution and Ecology, drew the illustrations.
Don't be surprised if Matan Shelomi's former colleagues at the Bohart Museum show up in their "Know Your Sticks" t-shirts.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
So when the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house, themed "Keep Calm and Insect On," took place last Saturday, an Australian walking stick, Extatosoma tiaratum, got into the act. It promptly walked from the hand of entomology graduate student Charlotte Herbert to her head and pretended to be a barrette. A Phasmid barrette.
This one was a sultry brown female adult stick insect with a decidedly spiked "hairdo." Spiked? The females are covered with thornlike spikes, used for defense as well as camouflage.
According to Wikipedia, "Both sexes, when threatened, stand on the front and middle legs, pointing their abdomen up or to the side in a sort of 'scorpion' pose. They fold back their legs to defend themselves if anything comes in contact with their abdomen. Adults can release a defensive odor that humans might not find offensive as it "is rather reminiscent of peanut butter, vinegar or toffee."
Many of the visitors at Saturday's open house at first overlooked the stick insect barrette. After all, it was camouflaged. But they quickly grasped Charlotte Herbert's enthusiasm for insects as she shared information and encouraged them to ask questions and hold the insects. In between, she led a workshop on how to make buzz kazoos.
"I have known since I was five years old that I wanted to be an entomologist," Herbert said. "Growing up on a farm in New Hampshire allowed me to fall in love with the natural world and the critters that exist in it. To this day, I love nature and especially insects. There is something extraordinarily beautiful about their small size and complexity."
"Four years ago I started to follow my passion of entomology beyond the hobbyists perspective and into research during my undergraduate at St. Lawrence University, Canton, N.Y. Even though my undergraduate school did not offer a degree in entomology, my advisor Dr. Karl McKnight took me under his wing and allowed me to conduct independent entomological research. It was there that I fell in love with the fly (Diptera) family Asilidae, also known as assassin flies or robber flies. There are over 7,500 species of assassin flies found worldwide. They are incredibly diverse, venomous, and aggressive aerial predators"
For the past two years Herbert worked with assassin flies at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. This fall she became a Ph.D student in Lynn Kimsey's lab and a volunteer at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. Kimsey directs the Bohart Museum and is a professor of entomology in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
"I am so happy to be at UC Davis!" Herbert said. "I am following my lifelong passion of entomology, surrounded with other like-minded individuals, and get the pleasure of working at the Bohart, where I can teach people to set aside their fears of insects and instead glimpse into their incredibly complex and beautiful world."
There definitely was no fear when visitors got acquainted with the walking stick in her hair and the one in her hand.
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, is home to nearly eight million specimens, as well a "live" petting zoo, with critters like Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and a rose-haired tarantula named "Peaches." It also operates a gift shop filled with T-shirts, insect collecting equipment, posters, books, insect-themed candy and jewelry.
Throughout the academic year, the Bohart hosts an open house on specified weekends. The remaining open houses:
- Sunday, Jan. 10 from 1 to 4 p.m.: Parasitoid Palooza II
- Saturday, Feb. 13: Biodiversity Museum Day
- Saturday, April 16, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.: UC Davis Picnic Day
- Saturday, July 31, 8 to 11 p.m.: “Celebrate Moths”