- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Folks are looking forward to the next open house at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis.
It's set Saturday, Sept. 28 from 1 to 4 p.m. and the theme is "Museum ABC's: Arthopods, Bohart and Collecting." It's free and family friendly. Parking is also free.
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis, hosts open houses throughout the academic year. It's an opportunity to talk one-on-one with the scientists and see the displays.
The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens. Plus, it maintains a live petting zoo (including Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas) and an insect-themed gift shop, stocked with T-shirts, hoodies, jewelry, posters, books, collecting equipment and more.
The Bohart scientists kept regular visitors' hours this summer on Tuesdays. Visiting hours are now over for this summer. Also, starting Monday, Sept. 1 and continuing through Sept. 22, the insect museum will be closed to the public. See website. Also see the Bohart video from last year, featuring then director Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology and now emerita, as of Feb. 1, 2024. She continues her research at the Bohart and also continues as the newsletter editor.
Assuming the reins of director, as of Feb. 1: Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, Agricultural Sciences, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Meanwhile, mark your calendar for Saturday, Sept. 28. If you're lucky, you may see a monarch flying around on campus on its way to an overwintering site along coastal California. If not, visit the Lepidoptera collection, curated by entomologist Jeff Smith. You'll see lots of monarch specimens.
Smith says the number of moth and butterfly specimens at the Bohart is about 825,454. Of that number, some 618,750 are moth specimens and the rest are butterflies.
For more information, access the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu/ or email bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Those attending the Bohart Museum of Entomology's recent Moth Night learned all about silkworms, moths, cocoons and textiles at a display staffed by Michael "Mike" Pitcairn, a retired senior environmental scientist/supervisor with the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Mulberry silk production originated in China at least 5000 years ago. Folklore indicates that the wife of a Chinese emperor watched a cocoon fall from a mulberry tree into her teacup. She reportedly watched the cocoon unravel, revealing a long delicate thread. She collected thousands of the threads and made a robe for the emperor.
Biology Professor Richard Peigler of University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, donated the items to the Bohart Museum in 2020, said UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emerita Lynn Kimsey, former director of the Bohart. "What's cool about it is," she said, "is that the silk pieces were made from silk produced by multiple silk moth species, not just the one we think of commercially."
The mulberry moth is the primary producer of silk. Tussah is the most well known of the wild silks.
Peigler has worked extensively with wild silk moths, studying their phylogeny, taxonomy and biology. His donations comprise the Wild Silks collection at the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida.
"Wild silk is not nearly as luxurious as domestic silk found in today's clothing industry," the McGuire Center website relates. "This is raw, rough, and textured silk which feels almost paper-like to the human touch. This silk is harvested from the cocoons of various silk moths that encounter little to no human interaction. The practice of producing silk – termed sericulture, stretches back 5 millennia, and astonishingly, is a craft performed to this very day."
They included a woman's chaddar (head covering and shawl) and tablecloths.
Eri Silk (Samia ricini). Displayed was a woman's chaddar of 100 percent eri silk (Samia ricini), handwoven in Assam, India, and of naturally colored yarn. The brocade was done in traditional Assamese motifs. Women in rural villages in Northeast India wear these traditional shawls in winter. Peigler bought the chaddar for $47 from a seller in India in 2019.
Tussah Silk (Antheraea pernyi). Displayed was an antique tablecloth of tussah silk, handwoven in China in the 1920s or 1930s. The tablecloth, hand-reeled and in the natural beige color, is hand-embroidered with mulberry silk (Bombx mori). China has exported thousands of tablecloths and handkerchiefs made of tussah silk (called "pongee" or "Shantng silk") to the United States and the United Kingdom. Peigler purchased this tablecloth in April 2019 from an internet seller in Mount Dora, Fla., for $35.
Also of interest was a sample of tussah silk fabric in a pattern called "Honeycomb," mimicking the hexagonal cells in a bee colony. "The yarns were machine spun and the fabric was machine woven," said Peigler, who purchased the fabric from Oriental Silk Import Co. in Los Angeles for $32.95 per yard. There are several species of tussah silk moths (family Saturniidae) in China, India, Japan, Africa and North America.
Mulberry Silk (Bombx mori). Displayed was a tablecloth created in the early 1900s in China. "It was spun, woven and embroidered by hand," Peigler related.
The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. It also includes a live petting zoo and an insect-themed gift shop. Director of the museum is Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair of UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, Agricultural Sciences, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The Bohart Museum is open to walk-in visitors on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 4:30 p.m. through Aug. 27. It will be closed to the public Sept. 1-22.
The next open house is set for 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 28. The theme is "Museum ABC's: Arthropods, Bohart and Collecting." All open houses are free and family friendly. Parking is also free. For more information, contact bmuseum@ucdavis.edu or access the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That was a key question asked at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's annual Moth Night, held both indoors and outdoors on the UC Davis campus on Saturday, July 20.
Doctoral student Iris Quayle of the laboratory of Professor Jason Bond, director of the Bohart (and the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair of UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, Agricultural Sciences, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences), staffed a station explaining the differences.
Some major points:
- Both butterflies and moths are members of the order Lepidoptera and both are pollinators.
- Both go through a complete metamorphosis, from egg to larva (caterpillar) to pupa to adult. Butterflies pupate in a chrysalis while a moth pupates in a cocoon.
- A butterfly's antennae have club-like tips whereas moths have feathery, thick, comb-like antennae.
- Butterflies are diurnal or active during the day, while moths are generally active at night. But some moths, including the white-lined sphinx moth, are both diurnal and nocturnal (active at night).
- Generally, a butterfly's wings are brightly colored and moths are dull in color, but not always. Some moths, such as the Ranchman's tiger moth, are beautifully colored.
Globally, scientists have described about 18,000 species of butterflies and 180,000 species of moths, "and hundreds of newly named species are added every year," according to Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart. "It's also believed that we may know of no more than 10-15 percent of the species actually out there, with the small 'micro-Lepidoptera' likely with over 90 percent of the species in the world still unknown. This emphasizes the importance of preserving natural environments so things don't go extinct before we can ever recognize their importance to the Earth and their relationships in their habitats."
The Bohart Museum's global collection of 8 million insects includes some 825,454 specimens of moths and butterflies, including 618,750 moths, ranging in size from the huge Atlas moths (10-inch wingspan) to the extremely tiny (4 mm wingspan) leafminer moths.
Founded in 1946, the Bohart Museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. The open houses are free and family friendly. The next open house is on Saturday, Sept. 28 from 1 to 4 p.m. The theme: "Museum ABC's: Arthropods, Bohart and Collecting." Check out the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or email bmuseum@ucdavis.edu for more information.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The insects, that is.
Bohart Museum of Entomology research associate John "Moth Man" De Benedictus and colleagues set up a blacklighting display during the Bohart's annual Moth Night, held July 20, hoping to find a diversity of moths and other night-flying insects.
"We saw just three species," he said, listing them as:
- Pelochrista eburata, a tortricid moth with no common name
- Platynota stultana, a tortricid known as the Omnivorous Leafroller Moth, and
- Ephestiodes gilvescentella, a pyralid moth known as the Dusky Raisin Moth.
Entomologists study and collect nocturnal insects with blacklighting. They hang a white sheet, affix an ultraviolet light, and await the arrival of moths, beetles and other insects drawn to the light.
What else arrived from 10 to 11 p.m.? "Numerous small flies, a couple of earwigs, a large longhorn beetle (probably Prionus californicus), and a few green lacewings," he reported.
In comparison, the 2019 Moth Night resulted in these finds:
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
De Benedictus has blacklighted for 37 years. His moth collection of some 600 species from the Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve and 300 species from his backyard in Davis is housed in the Bohart Museum.
De Benedictus displayed his collection that includes the Dusky Raisin Moth, "the most common moth in Davis," he said. It's been recorded not only in California and Arizona, but in Oklahoma, Utah, Montana, Alberta an British Columbia. The moth is so named because its larvae feed on raisins (as well as prunes, walnuts, yeast and the like).
De Benedictus, who holds a master's degree in entomology (1998) from UC Berkeley, studied with major professor and noted entomologist Jerry Powell (1933-2023).
"Jerry Powell once estimated that there are about 17,000 North American butterflies and moths," De Benedictus commented. "I would not be surprised if it's closer to 20,000."
Every year De Benedictus helps coordinates the "Mid-Winter Lepidopterist Gatherings," a legacy of Powell. The gatherings are traditionally held annually at either the Essig Museum or the Bohart Museum "for colleagues to exchange information on moths and butterflies."
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, is the home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live petting zoo and a gift shop. Director is Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, Agricultural Sciences, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
More information is available on the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by emailing bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
So much to see and do, and so many moth experts will be on hand to answer your questions.
It's all in keeping with National Moth Week.
The event, free and family friendly, will take place inside and outside the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis, as well as in the hallway of Academic Surge,and outside.
Moth'ers Peter Coggan, a doctoral student in the laboratory of Santiago Ramirez, UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology, and his father, Peter Coggan of northern Minnesota, and active in the Minnesota chapter of National Dark Skies, will staff a moth sensory booth.
Together they can address such topics as moth sensory biology, husbandry, trapping, and light pollution.
The younger Coggan, a member of the UC Davis Population Biology Graduate Group, was born and raised in Boulder, Colo., where he developed a love for biodiversity in the surrounding mountains. He is broadly interested in how sensory processing shapes memory formation and other cognitive traits. He is currently investigating "how hover flies decide which flowers to visit based on innate color preference and learned odors." He began conducting research in high school and has participated in projects from cancer diagnostics to waste water management. He received a bachelor of science in biology from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. As an undergraduate, he worked with Dr. Mark Willis and studied how moths perceive smell while moving through a complex environment. Coggan anticipates a career in academia and "to continue to raise awareness about invertebrates."
Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera collection, and Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas will show moth specimens and answer questions. The Bohart Museum's global collection of 8 million insects includes some 825,454 specimens of moths and butterflies, incluing 618,750 moths, ranging in size from the huge Atlas moths (10-inch wingspan) to the extremely tiny (4 mm wingspan) leafminer moths.”
Moth'er Volkmar Heinrich, UC Davis associate professor of biomedical engineering, will be displaying his images of moths and answering questions.Silks of the world also will be displayed, announced Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
In the hallway, visitors can view wing scales and antennae through microscopes at a table staffed by Iris Quayle, doctoral student in the lab of Professor Jason Bond, director of the Bohart Museum, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, Agricultural Sciences, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The petting zoo, featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects, also is scheduled to include Polyphemus caterpillars, "if they haven't all pupated," Yang said. The caterpillars will turn into silk moths. Staffing the petting zoo are UC Davis undergraduate student Kaitai Liu and doctoral candidate Emma Jochim of the Bond lab.
The family craft activity will involve making caterpillar stress balls in a cocoon bag, donned with leaves on the outside.
A free public snack of hot chocolate and cookies will be offered, Yang said.
Outside on the grounds, Bohart research associate John "Moth Man" De Benedictus and his colleagues will set up a blacklighting display (a white sheet and a UV light to attract moths and other night-flying insects). De Benedictis has amassed a moth collection of some 600 species from the Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve and 300 species from his backyard in Davis. He received a grant from the former Institute of Ecology to study moths at the Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve where he collected from 1989 until the last major fire in 2020.
“I began a similar inventory of the species in my backyard after I purchased my home in 1998," De Benedictis said. "It continues to this day, and a synoptic collection of the 300 or so species that I've collected in my yard is housed alongside the Cold Canyon collection in the Bohart Museum.” Graduate student Grace Horne of the lab of urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, Department of Entomology and Nematology, is analyzing the data from these studies as part of her doctoral research.
DeBenedictus retired in 2001 from the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, where he worked as a staff research assistant from 1995 to 2001 in the laboratory of medical entomologist Tom Scott. De Benedictis, who holds a master's degree in entomology from UC Berkeley, studied with noted professor Jerry Powell (1933-2023), emeritus director of the Essig Museum of Entomology.
Worldwide, scientists have described about 18,000 species of butterflies and 180,000 species of moths, "and hundreds of newly named species are added every year," Smith said. "It's also believed that we may know of no more than 10-15 percent of the species actually out there, with the small 'micro-Lepidoptera' likely with over 90 percent of the species in the world still unknown. This emphasizes the importance of preserving natural environments so things don't go extinct before we can ever recognize their importance to the Earth and their relationships in their habitats."