Renowned wasp expert Marius Wasbauer (1928-2021)

Renowned wasp expert Marius Wasbauer (1928-2021) studied them for about six decades. When he died this spring in Brookings, Ore., his family donated his collection of specimens to the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology.

It's a massive collection of more than 50,000 aculeate (stinging) wasp specimens, primarily spider wasps. 

Wasbauer, a retired  senior scientist/systematist at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, in a career spanning 34 years, was a global expert on spider wasps and a scientific collaborator with Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology. He was a member of the Bohart Museum Society and a strong supporter of the museum. 

Spider wasps, also known as spider-hunting wasps or pompilid wasps, belong to the family Pompilidae. The worldwide family is comprised of some 5,000 described species in six subfamilies.

“A U-Haul was needed to transport the collection from Brookings to Davis last weekend,” Kimsey said.  “The donation consists of a diversity of aculeate wasps but 95 percent are spider wasps (Pompilidae), an estimated 50,000 specimens from all over the world, in 180 drawers, in 13 24-drawer cabinets,” Kimsey said. “This is material he had been accumulating since the 1960s.” 

Wasbauer studied entomology and biosystematics at UC Berkeley, where he received his bachelor's degree and doctorate (1958).  “Like many entomologists of his generations,” Kimsey said, “Marius was an instructor in preventive medicine in the U.S. 7th Army Medical Service at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.” He joined the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) as a systematist in September 1958. 

“He published nearly 50 papers in wasp taxonomy and the biology of a diversity of insects,” Kimsey noted. “His taxonomic research focused on several groups of aculeate wasps, including Pomplidae, nocturnal Tiphiidae and myromosid wasps. Other studies included walnut serpentine leaf miners, tephritid fruit flies, bumble bees and even crane flies.”

Wasbauer was a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences; president and secretary of the Pacific Coast Entomological Society; research associate with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), a member of Sigma Xi, the scientific research honor society; a member of the Biosystematists Society; and a research associate at UC Davis. 

“He was generous with his time, and worked with many scientists and students around the world,” Kimsey said. “However, aside from his family and wasps, his other greatest love was fishing.” 

Marius and his wife, Joanne, longtime supporters of the Bohart Museum, frequently offered annual challenge grants of $5000, matching donations of other donors up to $5000.  They hoped to inspire others to give.  

The Wasbauers participated in a Bohart Museum Bioblitz to Belize in 2017, a trip led by entomologists David Wyatt, a professor at Sacramento City College, and Fran Keller, now a professor at Folsom Lake College. Keller, who holds a doctorate in entomology from UC Davis, is a Bohart Museum research associate. 

A trio of entomologists—Lynn Kimsey and her husband, forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey of the Department of Entomology and Nematology; and Bohart Museum research associate Brennen Dyer—prepared a space in the Bohart for the large donation. They unloaded the truck with Kimsey friends, retired Placer County Sheriff Mike Whitney and his wife, Becky. 

The Bohart Museum, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, houses a global collection of nearly eight million insect specimens, plus a live “petting zoo” comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas. The Bohart Museum also inclues a year-around gift shop stocked with insect-themed t-shirts, sweatshirts, posters, books, jewelry and insect-collecting equipment.

Temporarily closed due to COVID-19 pandemic precautions, the Bohart is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. 

Nothing says National Pollinator Week more than a honey bee coated in pollen.

Make mine yellow. Yellow pollen.

There's plenty of time to prepare. National Pollinator Week is June 21-27.

You can register your activities--make that "socially distant activities" to the official Pollinator Week events map.

You can request local buildings to light up yellow and orange in support of pollinators.

You can sign and mail proclamations to your governor in support of Pollination Week.

And, you can celebrate the week by taking an image of a pollinator.

We ventured over to the UC Davis Ecological Garden, Student Farm, Agricultural Sustainability Institute, to capture these two images of a honey bee blanketed with pollen as she foraged--appropriately--on a blanket flower, Gaillardia. The plant is a member of the sunflower family, Asteraeae, and native to North and South America. 

The Pollinator Partnership, which sponsors National Pollinator Week, points out that about 75 percent of all flowering plant species "need the help of animals to move their heavy pollen grains from plant to plant for fertilization."

PP also relates that:

• About 1000 of all pollinators are vertebrates such as birds, bats and small animals. 
• Most pollinators (abut 200,000 species) are beneficial insects such as flies, beetles, wasps, ants, butterflies, moths and bees.
• Pollinators are often keystone species, meaning that they are critical to an ecosystem.

Are you ready for National Pollinator Week?

A visit by a flameskimmer dragonfly is always special. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This male made its appearance in our Vacaville pollinator garden on May 17, and hung around long enough for me to capture several images.

Like a lens to a flame...

When folks talk about seeing "a red dragonfly," they might not know the species, but they do know it's firecracker red.

"It was red! Firecracker red!"

Ten fast facts about dragonflies, as provided by the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis:

1. Dragonflies date back before the dinosaur age.
2. The largest known prehistoric species of dragonfly, living 300 million years ago,  was the Meganeura monyi. Its wingspan measured more than two feet long.
3. The largest species today is a South American dragonfly with a wingspan of 7.5 inches.  The smallest modern species is an east Asian dragonfly, the libellulid dragonfly, Nannophya pygmaea, with a wingspan of about 3/4 of an inch.
4. California is home to approximately 108 species. More than 5000 species are found worldwide.
5. Dragonflies help control pests such as mosquitoes, midges and flies, but will also dine on honey bees and butterflies.
6. The adults feed by hawking their prey. They dart off a perch to catch prey and often return to the perch to eat.
7. Most dragonflies live around lakes, ponds, streams, and marshes; their larvae, known as “nymphs,” are aquatic.  Some dragonfly larvae live in bromeliad flowers.
8. Dragonflies usually do not bite or sting humans, but if grasped by the abdomen, they may bite to escape. 
9. The dragonfly is thought to have better eyesight than any other insect. Its compound eyes take up much of the insect's head. Each compound eye has up to 30,000 facets or sensor modules, arranged to provide nearly a 360-degree field of vision. That's why it's difficult to sneak up on them.
10. Dragonflies are a common motif in Native American art, displayed on Zuni pottery, Hopi rock art and on Pueblo necklaces. In Japan, they are considered symbols of courage, strength and happiness.

The Bohart Museum, directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, is celebrating its 75th anniversary. It's the home of nearly eight million insect specimens; a live "petting zoo," comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects (aka "walking sticks"), and tarantulas; and an online gift shop stocked with insect-themed t-shirts, jewelry, books, posters, collecting equipment and the like.

It's temporarily closed due to COVID-19 pandemic precautions. But just you wait...good things are going to happen!

An American flag flies from its sky-high pole at our home year-around.

A U.S. Air Force veteran lives here, and the survivors of generations of veterans, starting with the American Revolution, live here.

On Memorial Day, Flag Day and Veterans' Day, we pause and pay tribute to all who served in our nation's wars.

I think of my great-grandfather, Samuel Davidson Laughlin, a Union color bearer in the Civil War who carried the American flag in several of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War:  the Siege of Vicksburg, Battle of Lookout Mountain, and the battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga. The 6'3" farm boy from Linn, Mo. towered over his fellow soldiers. Height, as well as strength and courage, determined who carried the flags. It was an honor accorded to only a few. 

Sam Laughlin and his white-knuckle grip on the American flag portrayed a defining moment in history. He escaped the blood and bullets of the Civil War unscathed. His flag did not; a musket tore a hole in it.

What he saw on the battlefields, however, would torment him and his fellow soldiers for decades.

The horrors of war....

Back at camp, did they ever pause to see a little beauty reminding them of the existence of Mother Nature...such as a  butterfly fluttering by? Not during the late fall or winter months! Perhaps they did at the Siege of Vicksburg (May 18-July 4, 1863)?  Maybe a monarch to soothe the soul?

"Some of the most breathtaking sights are those created by Mother Nature. And during the next few weeks, we'll get to experience one of her most eye-catching works – the spring migration of the monarch butterfly. The vibrant insects pass right through Mississippi, creating a colorful show in the sky."--Only in Your State (Mississippi)

Flying high, flying free.