- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on beetles, set Sunday, Jan. 22, will include "Beetles in Belize."
Beetle expert Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College and a Bohart Museum scientist, will discuss the beetles that she and other scientists collected in Belize, and will introduce the public to several drawers of the specimens.
The open house will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. It is free and family friendly.
"In November I started working in the Natural History Museum London Coleoptera collection, working on Belize Cerambycidae to facilitate identification and then catalog specimens for the Belize National Insect Collection," Keller said. "I worked with Larry Bezark, via the internet/email/Google Drive, who is retired from the California Department of Food and Agriculture. There were 28 new country records for Belize and two new species to science that Larry will describe."
"We don't have an exact number but I would say we have over 500 beetle species identified, but there are many more that need identification."
Among the other presenters at the Bohart Museum open house will be UC Davis graduate student and burying beetle researcher Tracie Hayes of the laboratory of Professor Louie Yang, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology; and Cal Fire bark beetle specialist Curtis Ewing, a senior environmental scientist, Forest Entomology and Pathology.
The family arts-and-crafts activity will be to color a drawing of a carrion beetle, the work of Tracie Hayes.
The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, Department of Entomology and Nematology, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens; a live "petting zoo" that includes Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects, cave roaches, tarantulas, black widow spiders, a brown widow spider and a centipede (see species); and a year-around gift shop, stocked with insect-themed t-shirts, hoodies, jewelry, books, posters and collecting equipment.
Founded in 1946, the Bohart Museum is named for noted entomologist Richard Bohart (1913-2007), UC Davis entomology professor, and is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Now that the sun's out and the worst California storms are over, check your yard for lady beetles.
We saw several of them on our agave this morning. The center of the plant looked like bunched-up asparagus--red-tipped asparagus--and there they were, ruby-red lady beetles threading through the leaves.
Close, closer, closest...
Ready to see scores of beetle species? Be sure to attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house, themed "Beetles," from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 22 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. Open to the public, the event is free (both admission and parking) and family friendly.
Among the presenters will be UC Davis graduate student and burying beetle researcher Tracie Hayes of the laboratory of Professor Louie Yang, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology; beetle specialist Fran Keller, biology professor at Folsom Lake College and a Bohart Museum scientist and UC doctoral alumna; and Cal Fire bark beetle specialist Curtis Ewing, a senior environmental scientist, Forest Entomology and Pathology.
The family arts-and-crafts activity will be to color a drawing of a carrion beetle, the work of Tracie Hayes.
The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, Department of Entomology and Nematology, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens; a live petting zoo where you can photograph the residents (and pet some of them, including Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects); and a year-around gift shop, stocked with insect-themed t-shirts, hoodies, jewelry, books, posters and collecting equipment.
Founded in 1946, the Bohart Museum is named for noted entomologist Richard Bohart (1913-2007), UC Davis entomology professor, is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Oh, my!
If you visit the Bohart Museum of Entomology's petting zoo, you'll see Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects, tarantulas, cave roaches, black widow spiders, a brown widow spider, and a Vietnamese centipede named Beatrice, the newest resident.
Oh, my!
Insects fascinate Teddy Marlatte of Auburn, so it was only natural that his parents, Chris and Maddy Marlatte would drive him to the Bohart Museum on Thursday, Jan. 12, to help him celebrate his fourth birthday.
His little sister, Reagan, 1-1/2, tagged along, too, but she favored her stuffed animal. Insects will come later!
"Teddy loves discovering things and looking at details and learning," his mother commented. "I think he could become an entomologist. A career with endless discovery and love for the finer details is right up his alley."
"It was our first time coming and we can't wait to visit again!" she said.
The Marlatte family admired dozens of specimens (the Bohart Museum houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens) and then headed toward the petting zoo.
In awe, Teddy watched stick insects crawl up his arm, petted a Madagascar hissing cockroach, and observed (in their glass habitats), tarantulas named Princess Herbert, Coco McFluffin, Peaches and Cha-Cha; cave roaches; black widow spiders; and a brown widow spider.
"Kids really like the walking sticks, particularly the Peruvians and thornies (Borneo thorny stick insect," said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology.
The museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, is dedicated to "Understanding, documenting and communicating terrestrial arthropod diversity."
The petting zoo, a fan favorite, has been a part of the Bohart Museum since its beginnings in Briggs Hall. Founded in 1946, the museum is named for noted entomologist and UC Davis professor Richard Bohart (1913–2007).
"We've had the petting zoo since we were in Briggs Hall (1990s-ish) but nothing like the current scale," said Kimsey, a UC Davis doctoral alumna who studied with "Doc" Bohart.
Bohart Museum research associate Brittany Kohler, a prospective graduate student, serves as "The Zookeeper," assisted by Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator, and various students.
Kohler lists the current residents:
Walking Sticks (5 species):
- Great thin stick insects (Ramulus nematodes), native to Malaysia, dimorphic (blue males)
- Borneo thorny stick insect (Aretaon asperrimus), native to Borneo
- Vietnamese stick insect (Medauroidea extradentata), native to Vietnam
- Golden-eyed stick insect (Peruphasma schultei) native to Peru/Ecuador
- Australian Leaf insect (Extatosoma tiaratum), native to Northern forests of Australia
- Princess Herbert, the Brazilian salmon-pink bird-eating tarantula (Lasiodora parahybana). She is estimated to be around 20 years old, the oldest current resident of the Bohart Museum
- Peaches, the Chilean rose hair tarantula (Grammostola rosea)
- Cha-Cha, the Mexican fire-leg tarantula (Brachypelma boehmei)
- Coco McFluffin, the Chaco golden knee tarantula (Grammostola pulchripes), native to Paraguay and Argentina
- Two black widows (Latrodectus hesperus)
- One brown widow (Latrodectus geometricus)
- Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina sp.)
- Giant Cave cockroach (Blaberus giganteus)
- Beatrice the Vietnamese centipede (Scolopendra subspinipes), the newest resident
- Ironclad beetles
- Bark scorpion
The Vietnamese stick insect colony (Medauroidea extradentata) is an all-female colony, Kohler said. "They are parthenogenetic (a form of reproduction in which an egg can develop into an embryo without being fertilized by sperm). "Someone from the public recently named one Wubbie, the largest brown color morph."
Kimsey estimated that the Madagascar hissing cockroaches, aka "hissers," live about five years, and the cave roaches "probably the same."
"Tarantulas live decades, at least 25 years, probably longer," Kimsey said. "Stick insects? Not sure, but I'd guess up to a year."
During the Auburn family's Jan. 12 visit, Yang and Kohler introduced and discussed the zoo residents and answered questions.
And Teddy? His facial expressions said it all.
Editor's Note: The Bohart Museum is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays. Group reservations may be made through bmuseum@ucdavis.edu. The Bohart will host an open house, focusing on beetles, from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 22. Open to the public, it is free and family friendly. Among the presenters will be UC Davis graduate student and burying beetle researcher Tracie Hayes of the laboratory of Professor Louie Yang, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology; beetle specialist Fran Keller, biology professor at Folsom Lake College and a Bohart Museum scientist and UC doctoral alumna; and Cal Fire bark beetle specialist Curtis Ewing, a senior environmental scientist, Forest Entomology and Pathology.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
But sometimes folks associate "sweet" with honey.
Honey, however, is not always sweet, says Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, who is to honey what noted wine connoisseurs are to wine.
Her descriptions of honey varietals are not only remarkable but legendary.
You, too, can learn about honey and how to taste varietals from California, the United States, and throughout the world at the center's series of three classes that begin next month.
The classes take place Feb. 8, March 22, and April 25 in the Sensory Theater, Robert Mondavi Institute, located at 392 Old Davis Road, UC Davis campus. You can register for a single class ($100) or register for all three classes and receive a sample set of three honeys as a gift ($25 value).
/h3>/h3>- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Don't bees forage only for pollen and nectar (as well as water and propolis)?
Not always so.
Some bees are meat-eaters or "bee vultures," says evolutionary biologist Quinn McFrederick of UC Riverside.
You'll want to hear McFrederick speak on "The Weird World of Pathogens, Microbes, and Meat-Eating Bees" at his Jan. 18 seminar hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
The seminar will take place at 4:10 p.m., in 122 Briggs Hall and also will be virtual. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.
"Flowers are more than just a source of food for bees; they can also act as hubs of microbial transmission," McFrederick, an assistant professor, says in his abstract. "Some pathogenic microbes can spillover from social bees into solitary species and move through plant-pollinator networks, while others have more restricted host ranges. We use a combination of fieldwork, laboratory assays, molecular ecology, and genomics to understand the evolution and ecology of these microbes. In this talk I will discuss how plant-pollinator networks can help us understand relationships between bee hosts and pathogens and other microbes."
"I will then explore the evolution of pathogenicity in the fungal genus Ascosphaera. While Ascosphaera is best known as the causative agent of chalkbrood disease, the genus is ancestrally commensal and pathogenicity has evolved independently several times. I will finish by discussing the microbiomes of bees that have reverted to a carnivorous lifestyle, the so-called bee vulture. Our ultimate goal is to leverage these symbionts to improve bee health, and we are just beginning to understand many of these weird and wonderful relationships."
McKendrick studies studies symbionts (pathogens, commensals, and mutualists) of wild and solitary bees, with the goal of leveraging these symbionts to protect bee populations and communities. His research includes a stingless species of bee in Costa Rica. He and fellow researchers "set up baits — fresh pieces of raw chicken suspended from branches and smeared with petroleum jelly to deter ants," according to a UC Riverside news story. published Nov. 23, 2021.
"The baits successfully attracted vulture bees and related species that opportunistically feed on meat for their protein," wrote Jules Bernstein. "Normally, stingless bees have baskets on their hind legs for collecting pollen. However, the team observed carrion-feeding bees using those same structures to collect the bait." McFrederick called them "little chicken baskets."
“The vulture bee microbiome is enriched in acid-loving bacteria, which are novel bacteria that their relatives don't have,” McFrederick related. “These bacteria are similar to ones found in actual vultures, as well as hyenas and other carrion-feeders, presumably to help protect them from pathogens that show up on carrion.”
The article noted that "One of the bacteria present in vulture bees is Lactobacillus, which is in a lot of humans' fermented food, like sourdough. They were also found to harbor Carnobacterium, which is associated with flesh digestion."
McFrederick and his colleagues published their research, "Why Did the Bee Eat the Chicken? Symbiont Gain, Loss, and Retention in the Vulture Bee Microbiome?" in the Nov. 21, 2021 edition of the American Society for Microbiology.
"Diet and gut microbiomes are intricately linked on both short and long timescales," they wrote in their abstract. "Changes in diet can alter the microbiome, while microbes in turn allow hosts to access novel diets. Bees are wasps that switched to a vegetarian lifestyle, and the vast majority of bees feed on pollen and nectar. Some stingless ;bee species, however, also collect carrion, and a few have fully reverted to a necrophagous lifestyle, relying on carrion for protein and forgoing flower visitation altogether. These vulture bees belong to the corbiculate apid clade, which is known for its ancient association with a small group of core microbiome phylotypes. Here, we investigate the vulture bee microbiome, along with closely related facultatively necrophagous and obligately pollinivorous species, to understand how these diets interact with microbiome structure."
McFrederick holds a bachelor's degree in integrative biology (1992) from UC Berkeley, and a master's degree in conservation biology (2004) from San Francisco State University, where he studied with advisor Gretchen LeBuhn. He went on to receive his doctorate in biology in 2010 from the University of Virginia, where he was advised by Douglas Taylor.
Among his awards:
- 2017: Hellman Fellowship
- 2016: Outstanding Faculty Award from the UCR Entomology Graduate Student Association.
- 2010: Award for Excellence in Scholarship in the Sciences from the Vice-President for Research, University of Virginia. The award recognizes “excellence in original scholarship by Ph.D. students at the University”
- 2010: Graduate Teaching Assistant Award from the Department of Biology, University of Virginia
The UC Davis Department of Entomology seminars, coordinated by urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, assistant professor, are held on Wednesdays through March 15. (See schedule.) Eight of the 10 will be in-person in 122 Briggs Hall, and all will be virtual.