- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
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)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
A perfect match: a bumble bee foraging on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola.
Lately we've been observing a bumble bee, identified as a maleCalifornia bumble bee, Bombus californicus, sipping nectar from the colorful orange blooms in our Vacaville pollinator garden.
B. californicus is one of 27 bumble species recorded in California, according to the four University of California authors of California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists, published in 2014 by Heyday. Gordon Frankie, Robbin Thorp, Barbara Ertter and Rollin Coville co-authored the book. Thorp (1933-2019), distinguished emeritus professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, also co-authored Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide, published in 2014 by the Princeton University Press.
Worldwide, there are 250 species in the genus Bombus. The most common bumbles we see are the yellow-faced bumble bee, B. vosnesenkii; the black-tailed bumble bee, B. melanopygus; and the California bumble bee (no yellow hairs on its face).
In California, bumble bees "are most common and diverse in the North Coast and Sierra-Cascade ranges," the authors wrote. They identified a total of 10 in urban gardens, but only three (the ones we see) are common.
"The ability of bumble bees to buzz-pollinate certain high-value crops, such as greenhouse tomatoes, has led to recent introductions from Europe to many areas of the world where they previously did not exist, especially B. terrestris, the Large Earth Bumble Bee."
If you spot a bumble bee in California, the California Bumble Bee Atlas wants to know. "Launched in 2022, the California Bumble Bee Atlas is a collaborative community science effort to track and conserve the state's native bumble bee species," according to its website. ? The group is hosting a Bumble Bee Atlas Survey Bio Blitz July 28-30. Check out the Facebook page.
You can also load your images on iNaturalist.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's a beautiful morning and life is good.
A male leafcutter bee (genus Megachile) drops down on a spent flower in a Vacaville pollinator garden.
He's warming his flight muscles, ready to greet the day--and maybe a female of his species.
Mr. Leafcutter Bee does not see the long-legged, long-beaked predator stalking him. The predator, a ringed assassin bug, Pselliopus cinctus, is hungry.
A bee breakfast would be good. Mr. Assassin Bug's menu over the last week probably included aphids, a leafhopper, a a lacewing and maybe a lygus bug or caterpillar. And now, maybe, a bee? He's focused on ambushing and stabbing the unsuspecting bee, injecting his venom and sucking out the body contents. That's what assassin bugs do, and he's an assassin bug. He's one of some 7000 species of assassin bugs found throughout the world.
Assassin bugs (Reduviidae) “are one of the largest and morphologically most diverse groups of Heteroptera, or true bugs,” according to a UC Riverside site, Heteropteran Systematics Lab.
The predator-prey drama lasts for about a minute. Abruptly, the bee spots danger and buzzes off.
It was a good morning for the leafcutter bee and a bad morning for the assassin bug. But the day isn't over…
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The event, "A Night at the Museum," is free and family friendly. It takes place in several places: (1) inside the insect museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus; (2) in the hallway of the Academic Surge Building; (3) directly outside the building for the blacklighting display; and (4) in the nearby Wildlife Classroom (Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology) for a insect drawing demonstration.
The focus is on moths as this is National Moth Week. Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepidopterist collection, will be in "the moth aisle" with Bohart associate and naturalist Greg Kareofelas to show specimens and answer questions.
At the Bohart table, inside the museum, fly experts from around the world--including dipterists at the California Department of Food and Agriculture--will answer your questions and show specimens. They were in Reno to participate in the 10th International Dipterology Congress, held July 16-21.
The hallway will be a plethora of exhibits and activities.
- There will be a memorial to the late international moth authority, Jerry Powell, former director of the Essig Museum of Entomology, UC Berkeley, who died July 8 at age 90. "Jerry's rearing program was the most extensive in the history of the study of New World Microlepidoptera," according to an Essig post. "For over 50 years he and his students processed more than 15,000 collections of larval or live adult Lepidoptera. Resulting data encompass more than 1,000 species of moths, through rearing either field-collected larvae or those emerging from eggs deposited by females in confinement. This total includes more than 60% of an estimated 1,500 species of Microlepidoptera occurring in California."
- Visitors can hold the tenants of the live insect petting zoo, including Madagascar hissing cockroaches and walking sticks and take selfies.
- Science educator and entomologist Nazzy Pakpour, who holds a bachelor's degree in entomology from UC Davis, and a doctorate in microbiology, virology, and parasitology from the University of Pennsylvania and did postdoctoral research at UC Davis, will be showcasing her new children's book, "Please Don't Bite Me! Insects That Buzz, Bite and Sting. The book is illustrated by Owen Davy. "All proceeds of book sales will go to the Bohart Museum, thanks to Nazzy's generosity," said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. (See Pakpour's biography on One Aggie Network). Pakpour was a member of a collaborative team who worked on a malaria-proof mosquito that made Time Magazine's "50 Best Inventions of 2010." See Bug Squad post: "Malaria-Proof Mosquito Takes the Spotlight."
Nazzy Pakpour - Microscopes also will be set up in the hallway for visitors to view insect specimens.
Wildlife Classroom: Multiple insect drawing demonstrations, "How to Draw Bugs," will be given Professor Miguel Angel Miranda of the University of the Balearic Islands (UBI), Spain, who just returned from the International Dipterology Congress. He is a zoologist, entomologist and noted insect illustrator.
Family Tineidae:
Opogona omoscopa (Opogona crown borer)
Family Tortricidae:
Clepsis peritana
Platynota stultana (omnivorous leafroller)
Cydia latiferreana (filbertworm)
Family Pyralidae:
Achyra rantalis (garden webworm)
Ephestiodes gilvescentella (dusky raisin moth)
Cadra figuliella
Family Geometridae:
Digrammia muscariata
Family Noctuidae:
Spodoptera exigua (beet armyworm)
Spodoptera praefica (western yellow-striped armyworm)
Parabagrotis formais
Also outdoors, sidewalk chalking will take place. Free hot chocolate and cookies will be served.
The museum, directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, houses a global collection of eight million insects; an insect petting zoo; and a year-around insect-themed gift shop.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The open house, free and family friendly, takes place from 7 to 11 p.m. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. This week is National Moth Week.
Some of the world's renowned fly authorities will attend the open house. They are participating in the 10th International Dipterology Congress, being held July 16-21 in Reno.
Entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidopteran collection at the Bohart, and Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas, will show moth specimens and answer questions.
Science educator and entomologist Nazzy Pakpour of Woodland, who received her bachelor's degree in entomology from UC Davis and her doctorate in microbiology, virology, and parasitology from the University of Pennsylvania, will be at the event to read her children's book, "Please Don't Bite Me! Insects That Buzz, Bite and Sting," and will sign copies. She writes: "Mosquitoes, wasps, flies and fleas… Buzzing, biting, and causing irritating lumps on your skin. But what if there is more to these irritating insects than meets the eye This question and more are answered in this book that explores the lives of some of the most irritating buzzing, biting and stinging insects."
The book is illustrated by Owen Davy. "All proceeds of book sales will go to the Bohart Museum, thanks to Nazzy's generosity," said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. (See her biography on One Aggie Network)
Bug Squad included a photo of Pakpour, then a UC Davis postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Shirley Luckhart, in a Jan. 7, 2011 post headlined "Malaria-Proof Mosquito Takes the Spotlight." Pakpour was one of a collaborative team who worked on a malaria-proof mosquito that made Time Magazine's "50 Best Inventions of 2010." It was listed as No. 1 in Time Magazine's Health and Medicine category. Today Pakpour works in the field of sustainable biotech solutions.
Also at the open house, plans call for setting up a blacklighting display so that visitors can see moths and other night-flying insects.
The event will be dedicated to the late Jerry Powell of UC Berkeley, an international authority on moths and the former director of the Essig Museum of Entomology. He died July 8 at age 90.
Free hot chocolate and cookies will be served, announced Yang said.
The museum, directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, houses a global collection of eight million insects; an insect petting zoo, which includes Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas; and a year-around insect-themed gift shop.
