- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
No, expect to see a peacock jumping spider, violin spider, and praying mantis. And okay, maybe a monarch butterfly and a honey bee or two.
But a peacock jumping spider?
The best costume at the Bohart Musuem's recent Halloween party was of a peacock jumping spider, designed, created and worn by UC Davis entomology undergraduate student Wade Spencer.
And that's not all. He performed courtship dances throughout the evening, wowing the crowd.
“He spent a huge amount of time on this even practicing the 'moves' watching videos of the spiders,” said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology.
Bohart Museum associate Fran Keller, who received her doctorate in entomology at UC Davis, captured a video of Spencer's courtship dance. Posted on the Bohart Museum Facebook page, it immediately went viral on social media. (As of Nov. 1, more than 700,000 accessed it.)
How did Spencer come up with the idea? From watching biologist Jürgen Otto's videos of the peacock jumping spider. See Otto's video on YouTube.
When Spencer saw the videos, he thought "Wow! these little things are amazing!"
"Then when I saw the species Maratus speciosus, I thought the pattern on the abdomen looked somewhat like a face. The moment that occurred to me I decided I could make that a mask and the costume idea was instantly solidified in my mind.”
Spencer, who plans to obtain a doctorate in entomology and teach, hails from a tiny rural suburb of Los Angeles called Sunland. “It's often seen as 'Sunland/Tujunga' as they are joint communities with a rich history," he said. "They're also often seen in movies, TV shows, and commercials as it's a popular filming area.”
A graduate of Verdugo Hills Senior High School, Tujunga, Calif., he then went on to Pasadena City College (PCC) before transferring to UC Davis.
Spencer said his insect interest "all started with my great grandmother whom I called 'Gommie.' She babysat me often and would take me out into nature for picnics and such. There she would teach me about the plants, birds, snakes and lizards, the water cycle, geology, mammals, and, of course, insects. She didn't know many of the scientific names but she knew so many common names. it'd make your head spin. After many years of her influence and really learning how to simply stop and appreciate the nature around me, I decided I wanted to get into biology.”
After he completed ecology/evolutionary biology courses at PCC and field projects, he decided that "field biology was the thing for me."
"Then, after completing organic chemistry, I decided I wanted to synthesize molecules, specifically pharmacological compounds. I really wanted to either work with plants or bugs to extract molecules for potential medicines as they have amazing compounds with insane properties to them. Then I realized that while I loved the organic chemistry and all that, I really didn't want to be cooped up in a lab all day as my true passion was to be out in the field.”
“I lived with my great grandma from 2008 until 2014, taking care of her in her older years as she did for me in my younger years," Spencer recalled. "She would always encourage me to get into the sciences and follow my true passions.” He applied to a handful of colleges and was accepted by three. “I thought about it for a little and came to the conclusion that if I study bugs--which are way cooler than only flowers--I could also study the plants that I loved.”
Wade Spencer chose UC Davis. Unfortunately, his great-grandmother passed suddenly in November of 2013. "So, long story still long, my great grandmother was the one to push me into the amazing world of bugs and I still feel like a curious and playful child when I'm out in the field frolicking with the bugs and the rest of nature. I find my peace when I'm out in nature because I feel connected with my best friend, my Gommie.”
Spencer volunteers at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open houses, held periodically throughout the academic year. He can be found enthusiastically encouraging visitors to hold a rose-haired tarantula named Peaches, and extolling the virtues of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and walking sticks.
As for Fran Keller's video, it's drawing lots of comments on social media, including:
- This Wade person is amazing for not only making this costume but performing the dance that goes with it.
- Best Halloween costume, ever!
- So funny, only biologists and entomologists would understand the human and mastery
- Nice to see other people admire these little critters
- I completely love this person!
- Guy in costume, will you marry me? I love you!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Oh, what a (moth) night!
Saturday, July 18 marked the beginning of National Moth Week and the Bohart Museum of Entomology obliged with an indoor and outdoor open house, its first-ever evening open house.
The event took place from 8 to 11 p.m. The crowd marveled at the moth specimens inside the museum, and then stepped outside to check the moths flying into blacklighting and mercury vapor setup.
Like a moth to a flame...
"We saw some familiar faces, but many new ones," said Tabatha Yang, public education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum, home of nearly eight million insect specimens.
It was "getaway weekend" for a mother-daughter team. They booked room reservations a Davis hotel, and did some shopping. Then it was Moth Night. "The daughter, a high school sophomore, came here for the 4-H Field Day this spring," Yang noted. Keenly interested in entomology, the teenager decided the Bohart open house "was a good reason for her to come back."
Another teenage visitor was in a Tech Trek (a STEM outreach event for junior high girls) and brought her family to the open house.
Highlights of Moth Night included:
- Entomologist and Bohart associate Jeff Smith of Rocklin demonstrating Lepitodera preparation using material that entomologist Fran Keller recently brought back from Belize.
- "Moth Man" John DeBenedictis of Davis and Bohart senior museum scientist Steve Heydon showing the crowd the moths flying into the blacklighting and mercury vapor lighting setup.
- Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas of Davis guiding guests through the moth collection
Also helping were volunteers Maia Lundy, Fran Keller, Wade Spencer, Laura Morgan, Alex Nguyen, Melissa Cruz, Joel Hernandez, James Heydon, Anita Pratap, and Maria Nansen with daughters Miriam, 15, Emma, 12, and Molly, 6. Their father is a UC Davis entomologist. The sisters helped the visitors create buttons.
The event wrapped up "the very successful 10 weekend events we hosted this past academic year," Yang noted. "Stay tuned for the 2015-2016 Bohart 0pen Huse schedule to be announced later in August."
The museum is directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
And you'll meet them and see their amazing work at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 20 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. The event, appropriately themed "Insects and Art," is free and open to the public.
Keller, who received her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis this year, and Kareofelas, a Bohart associate (volunteer) and naturalist (he specializes in butterflies and dragonflies), will staff a table at the museum. Together they've created insect posters (think dragonfiles and butterflies), insect-themed t-shirts and a children's book, "The Story of the Dogface Butterfly." The book, focusing on California's state insect, the California dogface butterfly, features text by Keller, photos by Kareofelas and Keller; and illustrations by UC Davis graduate Laine Bauer. The educational book is available in the Bohart Museum's gift shop.
Like Keller, Kareofelas is known for his enthusiasm and fascination with insects. His volunteer association with the Bohart Museum dates back 25 years; that's how long he has donated specimens to the museum and assisted with projects. He's collected moths and butterflies in California, Nevada and South America. He's reared numerous butterfly species, including California dogface, Gulf Fritillaries, monarchs and swallowtails. In rearing them, he's able to see and share the life cycle (egg, larva, chrysalis and adult). This skill enables him to tell what egg and what caterpillar will turn into what butterfly. That's an identification skill not many have.
Both Keller and Kareofelas enjoy photographing insects. (Check out Kareofelas' image of overwintering lady beetles (aka ladybugs).
The Bohart Museum open houses are always family-oriented. The family activity on Dec. 20 will be crafting small insect sculptures out of wire and beads, said Tabatha Yang, the Bohart's education and outreach coordinator.
- Diane Ullman, professor of entomology and co-founder and co-director of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program. Ullman and colleague Donna Billick, co-founder of the program, taught Entomology 001 students how to fuse art with science. Their work is displayed around campus and beyond.
- Students from Art 11, a beginning printmaking class taught by lecturer Bryce Vinkorov of the UC Davis Department of Art and Art History. The class borrows educational drawers from the museum and then creates works of art inspired by the assortment of insects. Vinkorov says: ""My classes have used bugs from the Bohart as inspiration for their linocut prints for the past thee years. They are fascinated by the variety of color and body shapes of these bugs. The larger color prints are linocut reductions. I am very thankful that the Bohart lets this kind of cross-pollination happen."
- Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist for the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and an avid insect photographer. One of her macro images of a flameskimmer dragonfly graces the Entomological Society of America's 2015 world insect calendar.
- Nicole Tam, an entomology undergraduate student and artist. Her work includes insect-themed drawings and paintings.
- The late Mary Foley Benson, a former Smithsonian Institution scientific illustrator who lived the last years of her life in Davis, and worked for faculty in the Department of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology).
- Tom Roach of Lincoln, photographer, and Leo Huitt of Woodland, wood sculpture. Their work is on permanent display in the Bohart.
The museum, founded by noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007), houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens, and is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity.
Special attractions include a “live” petting zoo, featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas. Visitors are invited to hold the insects and photograph them. The museum's gift shop, open year around, is stocked with T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
The museum holds open houses throughout the academic year. Its regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The museum is closed to the public on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free.
The remaining schedule of open houses:
- Sunday, Jan. 11: “Parasitoid Palooza,” 1 to 4 p.m.
- Sunday, Feb. 8: “Biodiversity Museum Day,” noon to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, March 14: “Pollination Nation,” 1 to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, April 18: UC Davis Picnic Day, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, May 17: “Name That Bug! How About Bob?” 1 to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, July 18: “Moth Night,” 8 to 11 p.m.
More information is available by contacting (530) 752-0493 or Tabatha Yang, education and public outreach coordinator at tabyang@ucdavis.edu
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
When the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology hosts its open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 23, the theme will be "Insect Myths." (Okay, and spider myths, too!)
You'll learn about honey bee, ladybug, butterfly and spider myths at this family-oriented event, which is free and open to the public.
The insect museum located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, is not only the home of nearly 8 million insect specimens, but it operates a live "pettting zoo" (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas) and a year-around gift shop filled with T-shirts, jewelry, posters, books, bug-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy, including chocolate-dipped scorpions, crunchy crickets, and protein-rich lollipops.
Another popular book, published in 2013, is a 35-page children's book, The Story of the Dogface Butterfly, authored by entomologist Fran Keller, who this year received her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis. She is a researcher, college instructor, mentor, artist, photographer, and author.
The book, geared for kindergarten through sixth-grade classrooms, and also a favorite of adults, tells the untold story of the California dogface butterfly (Zerene eurydice), and how a classroom successfully mounted a campaign to name it the California state insect. Illustrations by artist Laine Bauer, a UC Davis graduate, and photographs by naturalist Greg Kareofelas, a Bohart Museum volunteer, depict the life cycle of this butterfly and show the host plant, false indigo (Amorpha californica). Net proceeds from the sale of this book are earmarked for the education, outreach and research programs at the Bohart Museum.
Gift shop items are available both in the store (Monday through Thursday) and online, http://www.bohartmuseum.com/.
Among the favorites gifts at the Bohart Museum:
- T-shirts depicting images of dragonflies, butterflies, beetles and moths
- Bohart Museum coffee mug
- Insect collecting net
- Posters of butterflies of Central Californian, Dragonflies of California, and the California Dogface butterfly
- Butterfly habitat
- Jewelry depicting bees, butterflies, dragonflies and ladybugs (many of the boxes are engraved with the Bohart logo and treasured)
- Science kits
- Insect and spider books
- Insect magnets
The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, is open to the public from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. It is closed to the public on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free. More information is available by contacting the Bohart Museum at (530) 752-0493 or Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator at tabyang@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
“Our crowd sourcing ends on Sunday night, April 20," said wildlife biologist David Wyatt, professor at Sacramento City College. (To learn more about the effort or to donate, check out the "Cataloging Insect and Bat Diversity in Belize" website.)
Wyatt, a professor in the field ecology program and a veteran of nine trips to Belize, in Central America, has scheduled the trip for June 2-16, 2014. A veteran of nine trips to Belize, he will guide the research team of six other biologists, including entomologist Fran Keller, his former student. Keller, who is finishing her doctorate in entomology at UC Davis, studies with major professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and UC Davis professor of entomology.
In addition to establishing a major entomology collection in Belize, the research team will conduct an inventory of bats from this area of Belize. An added bonus to the bat work is that the team will be collecting insect ectoparasites from the bats - in particular the bat flies (Nycteribiidae and Streblidae). “These are a fascinating group of parasitic dipterans that only occur on bats with a high degree of coevolution between the bats and the bat flies,” said Wyatt, who specializes in mammals (ringtails and bats) and also extensively studies in entomology.
The researchers are also teaming with the Biodiversity Center of Belize to conduct DNA barcoding of the insect specimens they collect (each will donate a leg to the analysis) and also barcoding of small wing punches of skin from the bats. Regular updates of the project are being blogged under the Lab Notes section of the website. Supporters who donate are automatically informed of new Lab Notes updates by email.
Keller said that starting an entomological collection “is not an easy thing nor is it inexpensive. With university and governmental cutbacks, funding for basic scientific research, such as biodiversity surveys and discovering new species, is rejected and being replaced by studies focused on climate change and alternative energy resources. Insects act as indicators of climate change and understanding the distribution of insects over time informs the scientific community on how various ecosystems are being altered by climate change.”
“Our crowdsource funding is an attempt to fund research through a unique online company called Experiment.com. We are presenting our research proposal to the public and the public will decide the value by backing the project with donations that range from $5 to--well we will take any maximum amount. Any funds over the requested amount will be applied to the collection set up equipment. With only three days left we are hoping to get as many backers as possible. Getting to work with David to establish this collection in Belize is also an opportunity for a former student to give back to a dedicated mentor.”
Keller is an alumnus of Sacramento City College. She began her academic career as a microbiology major but after completing classes in natural history, entomology, and field entomology, she turned her interests from single-celled organisms to multi-cellular animals. She is now teaching science at the college.
Keller credited Wyatt with encouraging her to transfer to UC Davis to continue her education. “David's enthusiasm and energy for teaching and entomology were contagious,” Keller said. “Although I really do enjoy cell and molecular biology, entomology is my true passion and David helped me recognize that fact. David and I have collected insects together many times in the Mojave Desert and Arizona. He also encouraged me to sign up for a one-week course in the summer to work with bats. Many bats rely on insects as their major food source.”
“I guess I have been an entomologist since I was a child but just didn't know it,” Keller said. During her childhood, she collected bees in jars and added flowers "to see what the bees would do." She and her sisters also collected caterpillars and watched them form chrysalids and emerge as butterflies.