Congratulations to UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, who was recently selected the recipient of the 2023 Exceptional Faculty Award from the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES). 

A well-deserved honor!

Kimsey, a recognized authority on insect biodiversity, systematics and biogeography of parasitic wasps, urban entomology, civil forensic entomology, and arthropod-related industrial hygiene, is a 34-year member of the UC Davis entomology faculty and a UC Davis alumna. She has directed the Bohart Museum since 1990. 

Kimsey will be honored at the CA&ES Award of Distinction dinner on Thursday, Nov. 2 in the UC Davis Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) Ballroom. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. with a reception, followed by the dinner and awards ceremony. Registration ends Friday, Oct. 27; register online here.

"A renowned hymenopterist and taxonomist, Dr. Kimsey has brought worldwide distinction to our department, college, and the university for her research, teaching, public service, leadership, development funding, mentoring, and outreach," wrote Steve Nadler, then the chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, in his June nomination letter. "She works tirelessly to make insects and entomological knowledge more accessible to scientists and the public, and her influence and impact are felt internationally."

When former department chair Richard Bohart (for whom the museum is named), founded the museum in 1946, it was a “hole in the wall” in Briggs Hall that included only 400 insect specimens. Under Kimsey's tenure,  it has grown to a global collection of eight million insect specimens in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, and is the seventh largest insect collection in North America.

"The importance of what Dr. Kimsey does and the importance of insect specimens in museums cannot be overstated," Nadler wrote. "They are a valuable resource for the agricultural community, public health, forensic entomology, medicine and criminology, environmental biology, and the pest control industry, as well as the public." 

The Bohart draws an average of 15,000 visitors a year, adds an average of 30,000 new specimens annually, and loans an average 7000 specimens yearly to scientists worldwide. It supports campus classes with specimens, live insects and exhibits in keeping with its mission:  “Understanding, documenting and communicating terrestrial arthropod diversity.”

It is also the home of a year-around insect-themed gift shop (proceeds benefit the Bohart's educational activities) and a live “petting zoo” that includes Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas. Children delight in holding the “hissers” and the walking sticks."

Unlike other directors of insect museums, which are working environments for scientists, Kimsey encourages visits by the public. Says UC Davis doctoral alumna Fran Keller, now a professor at Folsom Lake College: “Lynn….believes that allowing the public in to see the collection, to see scientists working, to talk to entomologists about insects is the most important thing we should be doing as entomologists. Lynn stressed that we should be willing to talk to anyone and provide information to anyone who asks a question about insects or who walks in the museum doors. She has focused on making the collection available for the public to see and to learn about what happens in an entomology museum.”

The Bohart takes its outreach programs to nearly 40 institutions annually. This includes schools, state and county fairs and libraries.

"Dr. Kimsey is a legend not only on the UC Davis campus but is called upon as an insect expert at the state, national and global levels," Nadler wrote. "She consults with international, national and state agencies; she identifies some 2000 insects every year for scientific collaborators, public agencies and the general public; she has answered an estimated 30,000 questions from the public and news media. They include bed bugs, yellowjackets, spiders, moths, butterflies, crane flies and Asian giant hornets (what the news media dubbed 'murder hornets').  She encourages a greater appreciation of insects through the Bohart Museum's many open houses, workshops and lectures. She also directs the support group, the Bohart Museum Society, and writes quarterly newsletters (nearly 100 to date) and fact sheets (80 to date) on insects and other arthropods). She compiled crucial information on human skin parasites and delusional parasitosis, important topics available on her website. The Bohart also sponsors summer BioBoot camps for middle-school and high school students."

Kimsey served as president of the International Society of Hymenopterists from 2002-2004, and as a member of the board of directors of the Natural Science Collections Alliance in 2000 and 2001. The Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of Ameica (PBESA) singled her out for its highest honor, the C. W. Woodworth Award, in 2020. She received the PBESA Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity Award in 2014 and was a member of 'The Bee Team' that won the PBESA Outstanding Team Award in 2013. The UC Davis Academic Senate honored her with its Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award in 2016 in recognition of her outstanding work.

The nominating team described Kimsey as a favorite among the news media, with her ability to translate complex subjects into lay language, and her love of people. Over her 34 years at UC Davis, Dr. Kimsey has granted thousands of interviews to news outlets, including British Broadcasting System, New York Times, National Geographic, Associated Press, and Los Angeles Times.

Kimsey holds two degrees in entomology from UC Davis: a bachelor's degree (1976) and a doctorate (1979).  She served served as the vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology in 2005-2006 and again in 2009-2010.

2023 CA&Es Award of Distinction Recipients:

Alumnus of the Year
James Finch '89

Early Career Alumni
Jeffrey Sparks '14

Distinguished Friend of the College
Tony Turkovich

Exceptional Faculty Award
Lynn Kimsey

Exceptional Staff Award
Lisa Nash Holmes

Scenario: A female praying mantis, a Stagmomantis limbata, is perched on a daphne.

Pho-tog: "Good morning, Ms. Mantis! How are you today? Hope you're not thinking about catching a bee for breakfast!"

Ms. Mantis: "Oh, no! I would never think of catching a bee! I'm...ahem...allergic to bees. Yes, that's it. I'm ALLERGIC to bees. I'm just...ahem...doing my morning exercises. Gotta stay in shape."

Pho-tog: "Bend and stretch, right? Bend and stretch? No honey bees on the menu?

Ms. Mantis: "Oh, yes, bend and stretch.  My morning exercises! No bees on the menu!" (Then she spots a bee below)

Pho-tog: "Hey, wait, why are dropping down in the daphne?"

Ms. Mantis: "Gotta go do my floor exercises now! Yes, that's it. My floor exercises."

UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, gets queries about two-headed butterflies.

A two-headed butterfly? A wonderful and surprising find of a new species? And suitable for publication in ZooKeys, that "peer-reviewed, open-access, rapidly disseminated journal launched to accelerate research and free information exchange in taxonomy, phylogeny, biogeography and evolution of animals?"

And a discovery guaranteed to bring fame and fortune, or at least worldwide headlines?

No, not a two-headed butterfly. Just a male and a female butterfly keeping busy.

This week we spotted a two-headed butterfly on a blanketflower, Gaillardia, in a Vacaville pollinator garden. The butterflies? Gulf Fritillaries. They're  also known as "the passion butterflies," as their host plant is the passionflower vine, Passiflora.

Ah, the warmth of the sun, the autumn colors, a slight breeze, and two butterflies forming a two-headed butterfly. 

Life doesn't get any better than that if you're a couple of butterflies seeking to create progeny--or a photographer engaging in "insect wedding photography." 

The bride and groom didn't notice the camera. They were too busy keeping busy. 

Find beauty not only in the thing itself but in the pattern of the shadows, the light and dark which that thing provides.---JunichiroTanizaki (1886-1965), Japanese author.

The shadow knows, but what does it know?

It knows to follow.

It follows the Gulf Fritillary--a brightly colored orange and black butterfly with silver-spangled wings--up a fence in Vacaville, Calif., and vanishes.

That's what butterflies and shadows do--they vanish. 

If you're growing passionflower vine (Passiflora), you've probably photographed the Agraulis vanillae egg, the caterpillar, the chrysalis and the adult.

But its shadow?

Have you photographed its shadow, that dark silhouette intercepting rays of light?

The shadow knows, but what does it know? 

It knows to follow.