- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Well, weather permitting, you can begin searching for the first bumble bee of the year in the two-county area of Yolo and Solano. If you photograph it and you are judged the winner, a prize awaits you--in addition to bragging rights.
The third annual Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble Bee-of-the-Year Contest will begin at 12:01, Jan. 1. The first person to photograph a bumble bee in the two-county area and email it to the sponsor, the Bohart Museum of Entomology, will receive a coffee cup designed with the endangered Franklin's bumble bee, the bee that Thorp monitored on the California-Oregon border for decades.
Contest coordinator Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, said the image must be taken in the wild and emailed to bmuseum@ucdavis.edu, with the time, date and place.
The contest memorializes Professor Thorp (1933-2019), a global authority on bees and a UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor of entomology, who died June 7, 2019 at age 85. A 30-year member of the UC Davis faculty, he retired in 1994 but continued working until several weeks before his death. Every year he looked forward to seeing the first bumble bee in the area.
The black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, is usually the first bumble bee to emerge in this area, Thorp used to say. It forages on manzanitas, wild lilacs, wild buckwheats, lupines, penstemons, clovers, and sages, among others.
Two scientists shared the 2022 prize: UC Davis doctoral candidate Maureen Page of the Neal Williams lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and horticulturist Ellen Zagory, retired director of public horticulture for the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. They each photographed a bumble bee foraging on manzanita (Arctostaphylos) in the 100-acre Arboretum at 2:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 1.
Page photographed a black-tailed bumble bee, B. melanopygus, while Zagory captured an image of the yellow-faced bumble bee, B. vosnesenskii.
Fittingly, they both knew and worked with Thorp, a tireless advocate of pollinator species protection and conservation and the co-author of Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (Princeton University, 2014) and California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday, 2014).
This marked the second consecutive win for a member of the Williams lab. Postdoctoral researcher Charlie Casey Nicholson of the Williams lab and the Elina Lastro Niño lab, won the 2021 contest by photographing a Bombus melanopygus at 3:10 p.m., Jan. 14 in a manzanita patch in the Arboretum.
Both Page and Nicholson are alumni of The Bee Course, which Thorp co-taught from 2002-2018. Page completed the course in 2018, and Nicholson in 2015. The nine-day intensive workshop, geared for conservation biologists and pollination ecologists and considered the world's premiere native bee biology and taxonomic course, takes place annually in Portal, Ariz., at the Southwestern Research Station, part of the American Museum of Natural History, N.Y.
In July 2016, Page participated in a "Bumble Bee Blitz" organized by Thorp and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Mt. Ashland, where, she said, "we searched for Bombus franklini and Bombus occidentalis--two very rare west coast bee species. We unfortunately did not find B. franklini, which is now recognized as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.”
The prized coffee cup features an image of the bee specimen, photographed by Bohart scientist Brennen Dyer, now collections manager, and designed by UC Davis doctoral alumnus Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College. Previous winners are ineligible to win the prize.
Origins of the Contest. The contest actually originated in 2012 as a little rivalry between the late Professor Thorp and his "posse"--three of his bumble bee aficionados: Allan Jones and Gary Zamzow of Yolo County and yours truly of Solano County.
The Davis folks (Yolo County posse) looked for them in the manzanita bushes in the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. Me? As the sole member of the Solano County posse, I headed over to Benicia to the marina and to the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park grounds. I always see them in December and/or January foraging near the marina on rosemary, and on oxalis, rosemary and jade on or near the state capitol grounds. And once on a rose in downtown Benicia.
In 2017, Jones found both a female and male in the Arboretum. At 2:02 on Jan. 27 to be exact. "After finding and photographing two males just east of the Arboretum's redwood grove, he spotted and photographed a female just west of it," we wrote on our Bug Squad blog.
"Surprising to see males this early in the season," Thorp told us. "Unusual to see males before any workers are on site. Could be from a gyne that overwintered but was not mated before she went into hibernation; or maybe the sperm she received were not viable; or maybe she was unable to release sperm from her spermatheca to some eggs as they passed through her reproductive tract."
"At any rate," the professor told Jones, "you got two firsts for the season at one time."
"I'd pat myself on the back if I were more flexible," Jones replied.
Pats are good. So is the prized coffee cup that awaits the 2023 winner.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
During these winter rainstorms, keep your eye out for the rain beetle, genus Pleocoma, family Pleocomidae. You may see them before sunrise or just after sunset. The males can fly only a couple of hours before they die. The females are flightless.
We saw our first--and last--rain beetles back in October of 2012 when a graduate student in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology showed us several that a friend had collected in the Shenandoah Valley of Plymouth, Amador County.
As we mentioned in an earlier blog, they spend most of their lives in immature stages beneath the ground, and that can total a decade or more, scientists estimate. The adults surface when the ground is soaked. Adult beetles do not eat. They have no mouthparts or digestive tracts. They rely on the fat stored from their larval stage.
The females emit a pheromone so the males can locate them. It's a hurry-hurry-hurry scenario. Arthur Evans and James Hogue, authors of Introduction to California Beetles (University of California Press, Berkeley) say that “on average, males of some rain beetles have only enough energy stored as fat to give them about two hours of air time and live only a few days. The more sedentary females require less energy and may live for months after fall and winter storms.”
In California, "Pleocoma is found only in foothill and mountain habitats, never on the valley floor that I know of,” Lynn Kimsey director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, told us. “A lot of the populations have been extirpated by housing developments. When I was a kid living in the Berkeley Hills in El Cerrito we had lots of males flying after every rain but once the neighborhood was built up they vanished.”
“California's rain beetles occur throughout the mountainous regions of the state, except in the deserts,” according to Evans and Hogue. Their excerpt on rain beetles is published on the website of the Hastings Natural History Reservation in Carmel, Monterey County. “Small, isolated populations also occur in the Sacramento Valley and the coastal plain of San Diego County. The known modern distribution of these apparently ancient beetles is restricted by the flightless females and is more or less correlated to areas of land that have never been subjected to glaciation or inundation by inland seas during the last two or three million years.”
As underground larvae, these insects feed on shrub and tree roots, fungi and other organic matter. Larvae can be pests when they attack the roots of apple, pear and other orchard trees.
Evans and Hogue describe the rain beetles as “large, robust, and shiny.”
And hairy. Indeed, Pleocoma is Greek for abundant hair.
“The thick layer of hair covering the undersides," they write, "is remarkably ineffective as insulation, especially for flying or rapidly crawling males who must maintain high body temperatures in cold, damp weather….the thick pile probably functions to protect both sexes from abrasion as they burrow through the soil. Males and females dig with powerful, rake-like legs and a V-shaped scoop mounted on the front of the head.”
“In most species of rain beetles, male activity is triggered by weather conditions that accompany sufficient amounts of fall or winter rainfall or snowmelt in late winter or early spring. Depending upon circumstances, males may take to the air at dawn or at dusk, or they may fly during evening showers. Others are encountered flying late in the morning on sunny days following a night of pouring rains, or during heavy snowmelt.”
Evans and Hogue say the males fly low to the ground searching for females. They are often attracted to lights (including porch lights) and pools of water. “Females crawl back down their burrows and may wait up to several months for their eggs to mature. The female eventually lays 40 to 50 eggs in a spiral pattern at the end of the burrow as much as 3 m (10 ft) below the surface. The eggs hatch in about two months.”
Learn more about them on the Washington State University site, or watch them on YouTube:
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you're planning to visit the Bohart Museum of Entomology on the University of Davis, campus, the hours are limited during the holiday season.
Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator, announced today:
- The last day in December that we are open to the public is Thursday, Dec. 15 from 9 a.m. to noon, and 1-5 pm.
- On Friday, Dec. 16 we are here working, but are closed to the public. Researchers and staff are welcome at the Bohart to do research or to shop. You may need to knock on the door, though.
- Next week Monday, Dec. 19 through Thursday, Dec. 22 we will be here for research and will be answering phones, emails and can coordinate in-store pick-ups for anyone who shops on-line https://www.
bohartmuseumstore.com/. (Email us if you are planning to stop by. Our hours are typically 9-moon and 1-5 pm. Researchers and staff can shop in store at this time.) - From Friday, Dec. 23- Monday, Jan. 2 the museum will be closed. We will all be on holiday and/or working from home, so no one will be answering the Bohart phones or be available for in-store pick-ups.
- We will re-open as usual on Tuesday, January 3.
The Bohart Museum, home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens, a live "petting zoo" and a gift shop, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. Admission is free.
Founded in 1946, the Bohart is directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology. It 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, traditionally held on President's Weekend (details to be announced soon) and UC Davis Picnic Day. The 109th annual Picnic Day, which draws some 75,000 visitors to the campus, will be Saturday, April 15.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Talented artists continually create stunning work at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology (who herself worked as a scientific illustrator under her maiden name, Lynn Siri).
The most current art/science work that graces the Bohart Museum hallway of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane: "Birdwing Butterfly" and "Spiral Galaxy of Butterflies."
Both are the work of two recent UC Davis alumni: Francisco Bassó Medel, who received his bachelor's degree in wildlife, fish and conservation biology, and Bohart laboratory assistant Brittany Kohler, who holds a bachelor's degree in nutrition science, with a minor in evolution, ecology and biodiversity.
"The displays were Lynn's idea, as a means to add more art to the museum and use existing specimens that had no data on them, so they could not be used for research purposes," Francisco said. "Lynn gave Brittany and I full creative liberty on how to make the pieces, that is something that I greatly appreciated."
"Spiral Galaxy of Butterflies" is comprised of commercially reared tropical butterflies from the 1960s. None were wild-caught and none contain collection data.
"For the 'Spiral Galaxy of Butterflies,' we spent about one full work day, spread through several days," Francisco related. "This piece is meant to represent a galaxy, with several planets and stars around it, and a black hole in the middle. We also hid a fly (a bee fly specimen or bombyliid) in there. Hopefully, people will have fun trying to find it and at the same time look at the details of each butterfly and moth."
Francisco worked at the Bohart Museum over the summer and "I am currently working on the new web page for the Bohart and applying to graduate schools."
Brittany said she's "always been an artist and interested in natural science. I use all mediums and enjoys mixed media to create art." Her membership in the UC Davis Entomology Club enabled her to "explore and get back into what I am truly passionate about." She plans to enroll in graduate school "and that will include entomological pursuits."
"Birdwing Butterfly" is comprised of 112 Brooke's birdwing butterflies, Trogonoptera brookiana, which originated from a commercial rearing facility in Southeast Asia in the 1960s. Birdwings, so named due to their birdlike flight, large size and angular wings. are found throughout tropical Asia.
The species are "dimorphic; the females contain white patches in their upper wing while the males are distinctly black and green," Kimsey noted. Like the Galaxy specimens, none were wild caught and none contain collection data. The lack of data makes them scientifically invaluable for research purposes.
Francisco credited Brittany with "Birdwing Butterfly." He added: "I only did an initial sketch of it and the piece was put together by Brittany."
Entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart Museum, spread all the butterflies. "All of the specimens lingered unspread in paper envelopes for about 50 years," he estimated. "The butterflies in the Spiral Galaxy came from unlabeled surplus material from Chiapas, Mexico."
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, as well as the live "petting zoo" and an insect-themed gift shop stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, books, posters, jewelry, collecting equipment and more.
Founded in 1946 and named for UC Davis professor and noted entomologist Richard Bohart, the insect museum is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That was the theme of the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 6, and dragonflies do just that--they rule.
They don't just rule in the water as larvae and in the air as adults.
They ruled at the Bohart Museum open house as visitors examined the displayed specimens; admired the images in the displayed books and the slide presentations; and chatted with the dragonfly experts.
A sign, "Meet the Dragonfly Experts," greeted the more than 220 guests:
- Rosser Garrison, retired from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (Pest Diagnostics Branch of Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services)
- Christopher Beatty, a visiting scholar in the Program for Conservation Genomics at Stanford University
- Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas
- UC Davis doctoral student Christofer Brothers of the laboratory of Professor and Chancellor's Fellow Stacey Combes, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences.
- Andy Rehn, stream ecologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and a UC Davis doctoral alumnus
Garrison, widely recognized as one of the current leading experts of the taxonomy of New World Odonata, delivered an hour-long presentation and answered questions. He and his wife, Natalia von Ellenrieder, a senior insect biosystematist with CDFA, have worked intensively with the Odonata fauna of the Neotropical region. He has written more than 100 publications pertaining to Odonata, including three books: Dragonfly Genera of the New World: An Illustrated and Annotated Key to the Anisoptera (2006), Damselfly Genera of the New World: An Illustrated and Annotated Key to the Zygoptera (2010) and, as co-author, Dragonflies of the Yuangas: A Field Guide to the Species from Argentina (2007).
Garrison told the crowd that "There are over 6300 species of dragonflies throughout the world. They are excellent fliers; they hunt by sight and seize their prey (other insects) on the wing. Their size ranges between 2 and 15 centimeters."
Other facts discussed about dragonflies included:
- The larvae are aquatic and they can be carnivores.
- The fossil record is rich.
- Dragonfly relatives existed before the onset of the dinosaurs---Triassic Period, 250 to 200 million years ago
- They have a primitive flight mechanism compared to other insects, bees, butterflies, beetles and flies.
- Dragonflies mostly mate on the wing.
- They are not poisonous and they do not sew up people's ears (“devil's darning needles”). However, one group of large dragonflies are called—appropriately—"Darners."
- Larvae have a prehensile foldable lower lip unique in insects; it is used for capturing prey like mosquito larvae or even small fish.
Garrison's publications include descriptions of more than 75 new species and six new genera of Odonata. In the Americas, he has done entomological field work in the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Guyana, French Guiana, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. He has also collected dragonflies in Australia, Papua New Guinea, China, Thailand, Namibia and Iran. One genus and 10 species of Odonates are named after him.
Christopher Beatty
Christopher Beatty has been working "for a few years on petaltail dragonflies, with much of the work focused on the Black Petaltail (Tanypteryx hageni) in California and Oregon." Beatty was recently selected to present the prestigious Entomological Society of America's Founders' Memorial Lecture at the 2022 Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Societies of America, Canada, and British Columbia. He'll speak at the awards breakfast on Nov. 15 on "The Passionate Observer: The Life and Times of Jean-Henri Fabre." Fabre (1823-1915) was a French naturalist, entomologist, educator, and author.
Beatty said he has focused much of his entomological career studying the behavior and ecology of dragonflies and damselflies, having served in research and teaching positions at the University of Vigo (Spain), Santa Clara University, Cornell University, the University of Kiel (Germany), and Stanford University. He has authored or co-authored more than 25 peer-reviewed articles since 2003, and he is co-editor of the newly published Dragonflies & Damselflies: Model Organisms for Ecological and Evolutionary Research, 2nd Edition (Oxford University Press).
Andy Rehn is a stream ecologist studying benthic macroinvertebrates as part of bioassessments of bodies of water to ensure they are healthy and clean for drinking and recreation and can support diverse, native wildlife. He received his doctorate, studying dragonflies, at UC Davis in 2000.
Christofer Brothers
Cristofer Brothers is a fourth-year animal behavior doctoral student. He is researching how dragonflies, in both their nymph and adult stages, use their legs to capture prey. In particular, he studies the behavior of the flameskimmer, Libellula saturata. Brothers delivered a guest presentation on dragonfly predation behavior at the 2022 UC Davis Bio Boot Camp.
Greg Kareofelas
Greg Kareofelas credits Andy Rehn with inspiring him to study dragonflies. "That was when Andy was a doctoral student at UC Davis." Kareofelas, a longtime Bohart associate, naturalist and insect photographer, assists at Bohart events and presents informational talks at the Bohart Museum lab meetings, among other venues. He most recently gave a presentation on dragonflies at the Nov. 4th lab meeting. His work includes providing images for the poster, "Dragonflies of California," available in the Bohart Museum gift shop. Entomologist Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College and a UC Davis doctoral alumnus, designed the poster.
The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. Directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, it is the global home of eight million insect specimens, as well as the live "petting zoo" and an insect-themed gift shop stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, books, posters, jewelry, collecting equipment and more. Named for UC Davis professor and noted entomologist Richard Bohart, it is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays.