- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The 12th annual event, set Saturday, Feb. 18 on the UC Davis campus, will showcase 11 museums or collections. Known as a "Super Science Day" and a day to chat with scientists and check out the displays, it's free and family friendly.
All sites are within walking distance of the campus except for the Raptor Center, which is two miles away on Old Davis Road. Maps and directions are posted on the website. The maps also will be available the day of the event.
The UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day is traditionally held during Presidents' Weekend. The list of the 11 museums or collections:
- Anthropology Museum, 328 Young Hall and grounds, noon to 4 p.m.
- Arboretum and Public Garden, Habitat Gardens in the Environmental GATEway, adjacent to the Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Garrod Drive, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124 and main hall of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.
- Botanical Conservatory, the greenhouses along Kleiber Hall Drive, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- California Raptor Center, 340 Equine Lane, off Old Davis Road, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Laboratory Building/Esau Science Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Nematode Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building/Esau Science Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, 9 am. to 3 p.m..
- Marine Invertebrate Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building/Esau Science Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, 9 am. to 3 p.m.
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Room 1394, Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Paleontology Collection, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 1309 Earth and Physical Sciences Building, 434 LaRue Road, 12 noon to 4 p.m.
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute Brewery and Food Processing facility, Old Davis Road, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (See news story)
Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, chairs the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day and is a founder of the event.
Those who wish to donate to the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day can access the crowdfunding site. Donations may be made in honor or memory of someone, said Yang. A donor wall is online.
For more information, see the Biodiversity Museum Day website.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
By popular demand, ant specialists (myrmecologists) from the Phil Ward lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will answer questions at the 12th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, set Saturday, Feb. 18.
They will staff a table in the hallway of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. This is part of the events scheduled by the Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building.
What's Biodiversity Museum Day? It's a Super Science Day showcasing 11 museums or collections on campus. It's free and family friendly.
But back to the ants.
"The Ward lab and alumni will be at UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day to share our specialized expertise on ants," said doctoral candidate Jill Oberski of the Ward lab. "We're happy to answer questions about ants or any other insect, and we also have enthusiastic 'fun facts' at the ready."
Participants will include Oberski and doctoral candidate Zachary Griebenow; graduate student Ziv Lieberman; and 2020 alumnus Brendon Boudinot, a noted ant researcher whose most recent title is "Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow" at the Institute of Zoology and Evolutionary Research at Friedrich Schiller University Jena.
Professor Ward's webinar on ants drew widespread interest at the 10th annual Biodiversity Museum Day, a virtual event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (See his presentation at https://youtu.be/d8eRNsD8dxo.)
Ward, an authority on ant systematics, offered an hour-long, introductory presentation on "our friends, the ants" and answered scores of questions, drawing viewers from as far away as Virginia. He illustrated his webinar with ant images taken by his former doctoral student and noted macro photographer Alex Wild (PhD from UC Davis in 2005), curator of entomology at the University of Texas, Austin.
Ants originated about 120 million years ago (early Cretaceous period), evolving from "wasp-like creatures," Ward said in his presentation. They are members of the order Hymenoptera, and their closest relatives include honey bees, cockroach wasp and the mud daubers. California has some 300 species of ants, but thousands more are in the tropics, like Costa Rico, Ward said. Globally, "there may be as many as 40,000 to 50,000 species of ants," but only about 14,000 are described.
"Ants have occupied almost all of the world's land surfaces, from deserts to rain forests," Ward said. "There's a few places they're absent. They're not in Antarctica, no surprise! They haven't colonized the Arctic and a few very high elevation tropical mountains, but apart from that, almost any place you go on land you'll see our friends, the ants. And they have assumed a quite a diverse array of ecological roles. Some of them are predators, others are scavengers, and some are seed collectors, and these habits vary tremendously among different species in different parts of the world."
In addition to ants, the Ward lab will field questions about other insects. Boudinot, Griebenow and Oberski are veterans of UC Davis teams that won national championships in the Entomological Society of America's Entomology Games or "Bug Bowls." The Games are lively question-and-answer, college bowl-style competitions on entomological facts played between university-sponsored student teams. Griebenow captained the 2022 team, which included Oberski; Erin “Taylor” Kelly of the Geoffrey Attardo lab; and Madison “Madi” Hendrick of the Ian Grettenberger lab. UC Davis defeated Alabama's Auburn University to win the national championship.
Boudinot anchored three of the four national championship teams: in 2018, 2016 and 2015.
- 2018: The University of California team (UC Davis/UC Berkeley) defeated Texas A&M. Members of the UC Team: captain Ralph Washington Jr., then a UC Berkeley graduate student with a bachelor's degree in entomology from UC Davis; doctoral students Brendon Boudinot, Jill Oberski and Zachary Griebenow of the Phil Ward lab, and doctoral student Emily Bick of the Christian Nansen lab.
- 2016: UC Davis defeated the University of Georgia. Members of the UC Davis team: captain Ralph Washington Jr., Brendon Boudinot and Emily Bick.
- 2015: UC Davis defeated the University of Florida. Members of the UC Davis team: captain Ralph Washington Jr., and members Brendon Boudinot, Jessica Gillung and Ziad Khouri.
The UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, traditionally held during Presidents' Weekend, is expected to draw large crowds. The list of the 11 museums or collections:
- Anthropology Museum, 328 Young Hall and grounds, noon to 4 p.m.
- Arboretum and Public Garden, Habitat Gardens in the Environmental GATEway, adjacent to the Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Garrod Drive, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124 and main hall of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.
- Botanical Conservatory, the greenhouses along Kleiber Hall Drive, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- California Raptor Center, 1340 Equine Lane, off Old Davis Road, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Laboratory Building/Esau Science Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Nematode Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building/Esau Science Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, 9 am. to 3 p.m.
- Marine Invertebrate Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building/Esau Science Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, 9 am. to 3 p.m.
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Room 1394, Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Paleontology Collection, 1309 Earth and Physical Sciences Building, 434 LaRue Road, 12 noon to 4 p.m.
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute Brewery and Food Processing facility, Old Davis Road, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (See news story)
More information is on the Biodiversity Museum Day website.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
He participates in his annual "Beer for a Butterfly" contest that he's sponsored since 1972 as part of his scientific research to determine the butterfly's first flight of the year in the three-county area of Sacramento, Yolo and Solano. The rules: net the first butterfly and win a pitcher of beer or its equivalent. Suds for a bug.
Today, Feb. 8, proved to be a "bingo" day.
"I knew when I left the house at 10:10 this morning that today would be rapae day," he announced in an email with the subject line, Bingo!
"It was."
He spotted his first rapae of the year, a female, at 11:22 a.m. in West Sacramento, Yolo County. At 11:38, he saw a male. "Both were typical late winter phenotypes, quite different from what was flying in December," he noted. "My last in West Sac was Christmas Eve. So the rapae-less hiatus was 45 days, i.e. just over 6 weeks."
It was 64 degrees, clear, no wind.
"I did not get a specimen," Shapiro related. "Both of them were flying up near the railroad track at the top of the railroad embankment, where the ground is strewn with coarse gravel. That makes for a warm layer of air in full sun, but terrible footing. I am no longer so nimble or so self-confident as I used to be, and I never got a clean shot at either bug even though I got within about 6 feet of both."
"I could have stayed in that area and probably eventually would have caught one or both of them," Shapiro added. "I had to weigh that against covering the rest of the upland half of my site and possibly finding something else out. Remember that the butterfly-friendly window of time each day is still very short. I opted to keep moving, ultimately observing two atalanta (Vanessa atalanta, the red admiral) but nothing else. Malvella (mallow family) has not broken ground yet. Plenty of Erodium (family Geraniaceae) in bloom now, though.
P. rapae inhabits vacant lots, fields and gardens where its host plants, weedy mustards, grow. In its caterpillar stage, it is a pest commonly called "cabbageworm" that chews on cole crops.
Shapiro, who is in the field 200 days of the year, has been defeated only four times and those were by UC Davis graduate students. Adam Porter won in 1983; Sherri Graves and Rick VanBuskirk each won in the late 1990s; and Jacob Montgomery in 2016. The first three were his own graduate students.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The 12th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, set Saturday, Feb. 18 on the university campus, will feature 11 museums or collections in what is billed as a "Super Science Day." Frankly, it's a super way to learn about science, it's super free, and it's super family friendly.
You can meet the scientists and ask about their work. It's a great opportunity for students considering a scientific career. Food? You can purchase refreshments or lunches from the nearby food trucks.
Here are just some of the events:
- See insect specimens and live insects at the Bohart Museum of Entomology
- See plants at the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, Botanical Conservatory and the Center for Plant Diversity (herbarium)
- See eagles, hawks, owls, vultures, and falcons at the California Raptor Center.
- The Bohart Museum of Entomology is the home of eight million insect specimens, plus a live petting zoo (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas).
Plants?
- Check out the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, which will feature the Habitat Gardens in the Environmental GATEway, adjacent to the Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Garrod Drive.
- Breeze into the Botanical Conservatory greenhouses, along Kleiber Hall Drive.
- Head over to the Center for Plant Diversity, aka Herbarium, located in the Esau Science Hall (formerly known as the Sciences Laboratory Building), located off Kleiber Hall Drive. Special attraction (novelty): You can pet the pine cones in its petting zoo.
Raptors?
- See eagles, hawks, owls, vultures, and falcons at close range. Operations supervisor Julie Cotton says that "The California Raptor Center's Education Program seeks to introduce people of all ages to raptors and their habitats, and to encourage appreciation, respect, and protection of these magnificent birds. Many rehabilitation centers, including the CRC at UC Davis, have programs that allow non-releasable birds to serve as ambassadors to educate the public about science and conservation. The CRC's 30 non-releasable raptors include eagles, hawks, owls, vultures, and falcons, most of which be viewed on the tour route alongside informative placards describing each bird and its personal story. Several of these raptors will be out 'on the glove' with their handlers for up-close viewing and opportunities for questions and answers. Visitors are invited to follow the self-guided tour route and to visit the small-onsite museum during their visit."
The list of the 11 museums or collections:
- Anthropology Museum, 328 Young Hall and grounds, noon to 4 p.m.
- Arboretum and Public Garden, Habitat Gardens in the Environmental GATEway, adjacent to the Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Garrod Drive, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124 and main hall of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.
- Botanical Conservatory, the greenhouses along Kleiber Hall Drive, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- California Raptor Center, 1340 Equine Lane, off Old Davis Road, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Laboratory Building/Esau Science Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Nematode Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building/Esau Science Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, 9 am. to 3 p.m.
- Marine Invertebrate Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building/Esau Science Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, 9 am. to 3 p.m.
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Room 1394, Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Paleontology Collection, 1309 Earth and Physical Sciences Building, 434 LaRue Road, 12 noon to 4 p.m.
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute Brewery and Food Processing facility, Old Davis Road, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (See news story)
Maps will be available, and a graphic also will be posted on the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day website.
The UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, traditionally held on Presidents' Day Weekend, is free, but donations are gratefully accepted. Organizing the crowdfunding are Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology; Brennen Dyer, Bohart Museum collections manager; and Melissa Cruz Hernandez, outreach and leadership program manager, UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden.
"Your support will enable our 11 collections--the students, staff and faculty associated with them-- to hold this event," they announced. "Donations will not only help us sustain this free science event, they will enable our student interns to take science outreach to a whole new level. The goal of our event is to connect people from all walks of life to science and the biodiversity surrounding them. All donors will be recognized on the Biodiversity Museum Day social media accounts with a shout-out post."
The donor wall is at https://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/project/35545/wall. Gifts are tax-deductible.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, the Bohart Museum houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens. Among them: 500,000 butterfly and moth specimens. The number of monarchs? Approximately 400.
"We have about seven drawers of monarch butterflies from all over the United States, from Central America, Guam, Hawaii,
Smith remembers receiving, from a Lepidopterist, "a box of about 300 DEAD monarchs that were intended to be released at a wedding but never survived until that event. I have been using these important specimens for spreading demonstrations/classes for the UC Davis Entomology Club and the summer Bio-Boot Camps, so at least they are being put to a good use and not wasted. Releasing butterflies at personal events is frowned upon by the Bohart Museum."
What's so special about monarchs? "I think the monarch has captured the hearts of so many people outside of the entomology world, and brings attention to what we do and the importance of insects," Smith said. "It's always unfortunate when disinformation is given about these or any other insects to bring confusion to science, but hopefully the Bohart Museum and our activities can correct it."
When he shows visitors the monarchs, he makes a special point to show them viceroy butterflies, often mistaken for monarchs. "The viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus) is the iconic mimic of the monarch, and recent studies have suggested the viceroy, too, is distasteful to predators, so this muddies our message of so many years," Smith commented.
Smith estimated the Bohart Museum "has about 3 drawers of viceroys, but from many different regions of North America, and their appearance varies dramatically. The typical orange viceroy is from the eastern United States, but those from Arizona are more of a brownish-purple and are more likely to be mimics of the other 'milkweed' butterfly there, Danaus gillippus, or The Queen."
"Mimicry works only if the model and mimic occur together," Smith pointed out. "The viceroys from Florida are MUCH larger and also very dark to mimic the Queen butterflies there. I think most people ARE surprised when they see the similarities between monarchs and viceroys, and usually ask how to tell them apart. The most consistent difference is on the hindwings, where the viceroy has a diagonal black line across the wing that monarchs do not."
For most open houses, the Bohart Museum usually opens only one aisle of butterflies (the Nymphalidae). What draws the most awe? "The biggest 'wow' butterflies are undoubtedly the huge blue Morphos from tropical Americas," Smith said. "However, the specimens of a dramatic leaf mimic, Kallima inachus, also draw amazed comments. If we are able to open other aisles, other favorites are the Atlas moths (Attacus spp.), the white witch moth (Thysania agrippina), the enormous birdwing butterflies from Eastern Asia, or the Ulysses swallowtail (Papilio ulysses) from New Guinea. The sunset moth (Chrysiridia rhipheus) from Madagscar is also unbelievable."
Smith, a volunteer, loves his job. He treasures building up the Lepidoptera collection, working with fellow Lepidopterists, and answering questions from the public. For his outstanding work, he won a 2015 “Friend of the College” award from the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Nominee Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, commented at the time: “You could not ask for a better friend than Jeff Smith...he has brought us international acclaim and saved us $160,000 through donations of specimens and materials, identification skills and his professional woodworking skills. This does not include the thousands of hours he has donated in outreach programs that draw attention to the museum, the college and the university.” (See news story)
Kimsey praised Smith for completely reorganizing the butterfly and moth collection. “It's no small feat to rearrange this many specimens, housed in roughly one thousand drawers,” she said. “Many thousands of the specimens needed to be identified, and the taxonomy required extensive updating and reorganization.”
The Bohart Museum also houses a live "petting zoo" and an insect-themed gift shop. Founded in 1946, the Bohart is named for UC Davis professor and noted entomologist Richard Bohart, who was Kimsey's major professor. Weekend open houses are held periodically throughout the year. The Bohart is one of the co-founders and co-leaders of the campuswide Biodiversity Museum Day, also known as "Super Science Day." It is free and family friendly.
The 11 museums or collections showcasing their work on Feb. 18:
- Anthropology Museum, 328 Young Hall and grounds, noon to 4 p.m.
- Arboretum and Public Garden, Habitat Gardens in the Environmental GATEway, adjacent to the Arboretum Teaching Nursery on Garrod Drive, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124 and main hall of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.
- Botanical Conservatory, the greenhouses along Kleiber Hall Drive, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- California Raptor Center, 1340 Equine Lane, off Old Davis Road, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Laboratory Building/Esau Science Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Nematode Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building/Esau Science Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, 9 am. to 3 p.m.
- Marine Invertebrate Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building/Esau Science Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, 9 am. to 3 p.m.
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Room 1394, Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Paleontology Collection, 1309 Earth and Physical Sciences Building, 434 LaRue Road, 12 noon to 4 p.m.
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute Brewery and Food Processing facility, Old Davis Road, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (See news story)
More information is available on the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day website.