- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
They came. They saw. They held out their hands.
Hands? Yes, to hold Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects (walking sticks).
The Bohart Museum of Entomology greeted some 1400 visitors during the 13th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, an event held Feb. 10 and showcasing 10 museums or collections across campus.
The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live petting zoo ("the hissers" and "the sticks") and an insect-themed gift shop stocked with T-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, books, posters, stuffed animals, jewelry and insect-collecting equipment.
The entrance to the Bohart features a 5x6-foot photograph of a cuckoo or emerald wasp, commonly known as "the ruby-tailed wasp." It's the work of noted British photographer Levon Bliss. The microscupture encompasses more than 8,000 separate images.
Inside, Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepidoptera collection, and Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas, answered questions about the butterfly and moth specimens.
New director of the Bohart Museum is professor and arachnologist 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. Bond succeeds UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, who served as director from 1999 until Jan. 31, retiring on Feb. 1. Kimsey continues her research and in serving as executive director of the Bohart Museum Society.
The next open house at the Bohart Museum will be from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 3. The theme: "Grasshoppers,Crickets and Katydids." A talk is planned from 1 to 2 p.m., with the museum open from 2 to 4 p.m.
The Bohart Museum also is planning its annual open house for the annual UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 20.
Founded in 1946 by UC Davis professor Richard Bohart, the insect museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. More information is on its website or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Some 2000 visitors fan into the Academic Surge Building, home of the Bohart Museum and the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology.
The Bohart Museum is the home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens. It's seventh insect collection in North America.
On BioDivDay, 15 Bohart activity stations lined the hallway. Bug enthusiasts learned about spiders, ants, flies, bees, butterflies, moths and more. They held tenants from the live petting zoo--Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects (walking sticks)--and took cell phone images.
A neon poster next to the spider display read:
"Ask us questions.
SPIDERS.
And 8-legged friends.
Arachnology.
Bond lab."
"Museum Guidelines. Be curious! Avoid saying:
Ewww!
Ick!
Gross!
Yuck!"
Nobody said "ick, gross, yuck or ewww" (at least within our earshot). The crowd came curious. Some wore football attire in preparation for the Super Bowl the following day. All wore smiles or inquisitive expressions.
New director of the Bohart Museum is professor and arachnologist 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.
Bond succeeds UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, who served as director from 1999 until Jan. 31, retiring on Feb. 1. Kimsey continues her research and as executive director of the Bohart Museum Society.
The Bohart Musuem participated in the Biodiversity Day with Anthropology Museum, Arboretum and Public Garden, Bohart Museum of Entomology, Botanical Conservatory, California Raptor Center, Center for Plant Diversity, Nematode Collection, Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Paleontology Collection, and Phaff Yeast Culture Collection. Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum, chaired the Bioddiversity Museum Day Committee.
The next open house at the Bohart Museum will be from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 3. The theme: "Grasshoppers,Crickets and Katydids." A talk is planned from 1 to 2 p.m., with the museum open from 2 to 4 p.m.
The Bohart Museum also is planning its annual open house for the annual UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 20.
Founded in 1946 by UC Davis professor Richard Bohart, the insect museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. More information is on its website or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That would be UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology from 1990 until yesterday, Jan. 31, 2024.
Today, Feb. 1, is her first full day of retirement after 34 years of service to UC Davis (teaching, research and public service), and it also happens to be her birthday anniversary.
The Bohart Museum staff celebrated her birthday today. "I'm 71," she said. (And yes, it's okay to print that.)
Why is she "The Girl in the Red Boots?" A photograph of her at age 5, sitting on a fence and holding an insect net, graces the entrance to the Bohart Museum. Her boots are colorized red in the black and white photo.
Lynn grew up in El Cerrito as Lynn Siri and went on to receive two degrees in entomology from UC Davis: a bachelor's degree (1976) and a doctorate (1979). She joined the UC Davis faculty in 1989 following an appointment at Harvard.
The Bohart Museum, founded by UC Davis entomologist Richard "Doc" Bohart in 1946, began with only 400 insect specimens at its Briggs Hall location. 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.
Kimsey, a recognized international authority on insect biodiversity, systematics and biogeography of parasitic wasps, urban entomology, civil forensic entomology, and arthropod-related industrial hygiene, is a past president of the International Society of Hymenopterists (2002-2004), and former member of the board of directors of the Natural Science Collections Alliance (2000 and 2001).
A popular administrator, Kimsey served as the vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology in 2005-2006 and again in 2009-2010. She headed the department as interim chair in 2008-2009.
We asked her today: "How is retirement?"
"Retirement is weird," Kimsey said. "Somehow nothing changes, but so many things change! I'm still going to work in the museum, sorting and identifying bugs, and answering questions, but I won't have to teach or do committee work."
Kimsey will continue to be the executive director of the Bohart Museum Society, and write and publish the newsletter. No, she's not going to Disneyland (as some retirees comment). "I'm going to try to make a publishable form of my keys to the insects of California. I will still be doing the newsletters and information pages."
"Jason is taking over (as museum director), and I know where he lives," she quipped.
That would be arachnologist Jason Bond, whose office and lab are just down the hallway. He joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology in 2018 as a professor and the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair. The UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences appointed him associate dean in 2021. He's also the president-elect of the American Arachnological Society.
A retirement party for Lynn Kimsey is planned April 6, information pending. Husband, Bob, a forensic entomologist with the Department of Entomology and Nematology, plans to retire in June.
Let's celebrate "The Girl in the Red Boots!"
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
In lekking, certain species of males in the animal world, including black grouse, peacock and owl parrots, congregate in a courtship ritual to entice females to mate with them. This is unusual because spiders are notoriously solitary and cannibalistic.
Two UC Davis spider experts played a key role in analyzing the genetics of this spider. The new species is an orb weaver named Isoxya manangona. Its species name is derived from the Malagasy verb meaning to "gather" or "aggregate."
Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and project scientist James Starrett headed the genetic analysis. The research paper was recently published in the journal, Insect Systematics and Diversity.
“This paper is significant in a number of respects including the discovery of a new species of orb web-weaving spider that is social; most spiders are solitary predators that are cannibalistic,” said Bond, who doubles as associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “Although additional behavioral studies are needed to confirm, what is particularly interesting about this paper is that we report what is likely the first known observation of lekking behavior in spiders.”
Ingi Agnarsson, a professor of zoology at the University of Iceland and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., headed the international team of researchers.
While looking for bark spiders in the rainforests of Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, the scientists observed large colonies of interconnected webs, built by what they later determined to be a new species.
In examining the webs, the researchers noticed multiple males gathering close together, sometimes touching, in a central, nonsticking line. They counted up to 41 interconnected, single-cohort adult female webs with up to 38 adult males aggregating on a central, single, nonsticky line.
In all, their mile-long research area yielded 22 spider colonies, ranging from 2 to 79 spiders in webs two inches to almost eight inches in size. The spiders are dark gray with black coloring and large protruding spines. The females are about 0.2 inches in size, with “cryptic yellow markings.” The males are smaller but with no yellow markings.
“Spiders are notoriously solitary and cannibalistic, with instances of colonial or social lifestyles in only about 50-60, or ~0.1% of 50,000 described species,” the authors wrote in their abstract. “Population analyses indicate that most colonies consist of multiple cohorts formed by close relatives. Territorial social spiders facultatively form colonies by interlinking individual webs, but further cooperation is infrequent, and only among juveniles or (rarely) females. In spiders therefore, aggregations of males outside of the male-male competition context has been unknown.”
The researchers noted that the males were “resting tightly together,” but they found “no evidence” of male-male aggression. “Genetic analyses from RAD sequencing suggest that most colonies consist of unrelated individuals,” they wrote in their abstract. “Furthermore, genetic variability of males was somewhat less than that of females. Single cohort colonies made up purely of adults, and peaceful male aggregations, have not previously been observed in spiders. Although direct behavioral observations are preliminary, we speculate based on the available evidence that these colonies may represent a novel and first case of lekking in spiders.”
Since it was near the end of the field season, the researchers had no opportunity for more observations, and never witnessed mating.
Other co-authors of the paper are Zachary Babbitz of Boston College, Matjaž Gregoric of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Onjaherizo Christian Raberahona of the University of Madagascar; Steven Williams, Oxford Brookes University, UK, and Matjaž Kuntner of the Smithsonian Institution.
Starrett, who joined the Bond lab in 2018, holds a doctorate in genetics, genomics and bioinformatics from UC Riverside. He is a former postdoctoral fellow (2016-2018) in the Jason Bond lab at Auburn University. Professor Bond joined the UC Davis faculty in 2018 from Auburn University, where he directed its Museum of Natural History (2011–2016), and served as professor and chair of the Auburn Department of Biological Sciences (2016–2018).
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Access Wikipedia, and you'll learn they have eight legs, a pair of grasping pincers, and generally, a narrow, segemented tail that's curved over the back and ends with a stinger. They prey primarily on insects and other invertebrates. Their ancestors date back some 435 million years ago.
Scorpions now live on all continents except Antarctica. Scientists have described more than 2,500 described species in 22 families. The most venomous scorpion? That's considered to be "the deathstalker," Leiurus quinquestriatus, belonging to the Buthidae family.
What makes the deathstalker's venom so lethal is a potent cocktail of neurotoxins including chlorotoxin, agitoxin and scyllatoxin. While extremely dangerous, the unique chemical composition and scarcity of its venom also makes it the most valuable liquid (by volume) in the world with an estimated cost of $39 million per gallon. It is prized by the medical community because its properties have been found to be effective in the treatment of cancer, malaria and against bacteria such as tuberculosis.--Guinness Book of World Records.
Most people have never seen a scorpion up close, but visitors did at the Bohart Museum of Entomology display in the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, during the 12th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day.
Live scorpions, as well as specimens, drew curious looks and scores of questions.
Kat Taylor, a UC Davis freshman majoring in entomology, helped with a display coordinated by the Jason Bond arachnology lab. Bond, an authority on spiders, tarantulas and scorpions (among other arachnids) serves as the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and the associate dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The Bond lab display included sun scorpions, also known as wind scorpions, order Solifugae; and whip spiders or tailless whip scorpions, order Amblypygi.
Senior insect biosystematist Martin Hauser of the Plant Pest Diagnostics Branch, California Department of Food and Agriculture, and a traditional part of Biodiversity Museum Day, displayed Asian forest scorpions (genus Heterometrus) and two walking sticks (order Phasmida): Extatosoma tiaratum, the Australian spiny walking stick, and Ramulus artemis, a giant Vietnamese stick insect known as "a great thin walking stick."
Visitors marveled when Martin fluoresced a scorpion under ultraviolet light, turning it from an obscure brown to a glowing blue-green.
Scientists have known for more than 60 years that fluorescent compounds in the exoskeletons glow when exposed to UV light.
The 12th annual Biodiversity Museum Day showcased 11 museums and collections: the Anthropology Museum, Arboretum and Public Garden, Bohart Museum of Entomology, Botanical Conservatory, California Raptor Center, Center for Plant Diversity, Nematode Collection, Marine Invertebrate Collection, Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Paleontology Collection and the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection.
BioDiv Day, founded by the Bohart Museum, is traditionally held on Presidents' Day weekend. This year's event, held Feb. 18, drew an estimated 3000, according to chair Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum. The "Super Science Day" is free and family friendly.
The Bohart Museum and the Jason Bond lab are both located in the Academic Surge Building. The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 and directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, houses a worldwide collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live "petting zoo" and a gift shop. The Bohart Museum is open to the public Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m.
The next event to see insects and arachnids in the Academic Surge Building? That would Saturday, April 15 during the 109th annual UC Davis Picnic Day. It is free and open to the public.