- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
And there are more of them to like than you think!
About a million described species of insects inhabit our planet. That's about 80 percent of the world's species, scientists say.
"Most authorities agree that there are more insect species that have not been described (named by science) than there are insect species that have been previously named," according to the Smithsonian. "Conservative estimates suggest that this figure is 2 million, but estimates extend to 30 million. In the last decade, much attention has been given to the entomofauna that exists in the canopies of tropical forests of the world. From studies conducted by Terry Erwin of the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Entomology in Latin American forest canopies, the number of living species of insects has been estimated to be 30 million. Insects also probably have the largest biomass of the terrestrial animals. At any time, it is estimated that there are some 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) individual insects alive."
Which brings us to this news: The Bohart Museum of Entomology gift shop at the University of California, Davis, just received a shipment of new bug pins. Bug enthusiasts can not only TALK about bugs but WEAR them. And having a bug pin on your clothing is a definite conversation starter. (Not an ender)
Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart, said the pins include:
- White-lined sphinx moth
- Autumn darter
- Emerald ash borer
- Fly
- Yellow Garden Argiope Spider
- Zombie ant
Open on Wednesday, Dec. 18. The Bohart Museum gift shop is open Wednesday, Dec. 18 from 1 to 4:30 p.m., and then the museum will be closed for the winter holidays, through Jan. 4. "Otherwise, people can start thinking about which of their loved ones would want a rainbow fly with glow-in-the-dark wings or a "zombie ant. pin for Valentine's Day," Yang commented.
The back of the card identifies each species. Among them: an ant, cockroach, leafhopper, domestic silk moth, a thick-legged hoverfly, and a twisted-wing parasite. Inside are holiday greetings in eight languages. The card is also perfect as a coloring page. The cards are $4 each or $5 for 15 in the gift shop.
"I got the idea to have a winter-themed card not tied to any specific holiday and since 'Jerry' refers to a pond skater (Gerridae), I thought the idea of an ice skating pond race was fun, filled with long-legged bugs plus an ice crawler (Grylloblattiae)," Chew said.
The Bohart Museum, home of eight million insect specimens, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. Director is Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the Department of Entomology and Nematology and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The museum also includes a live petting zoo.
The next open house, free and family friendly, takes place Saturday, Jan. 11, from 1 to 4 p.m. More information is available from the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu/pr by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Then you'll want to attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on "Insects, Art and Culture" from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 15 on the UC Davis campus.
The Bohart Museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. The event is free and family friendly.
Among artists represented will be UC Davis graduate student Srdan Tunic; UC Davis undergraduate students Allen Chew, Francisco Basso and Brittany Kohler; and UC Davis alumna Megan Ma; plus the work of the late scientific illustrator Mary Foley Benson (1905-1992), employed by the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture, the Smithsonian before retiring and moving to Davis. She also did illustrations for several UC Davis entomologists.
Tunic, a UC Davis candidate for a master's degree in art history, will present a seminar on Benson from 11 a.m. to noon, Oct. 15, in Room 1010 of the TLC Teaching and Learning Complex, 482 Hutchison Drive. (See research story on Mary Foley Benson by forest entomologist Malcolm Furniss)
The family arts-and-crafts activity at the open house will be to "create your own Pokemon card," said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology. Also planned: eating insects, creating gall ghosts (from oak galls), learning about cochineal dyes, and showing off insect tattoos.
"We would love to have folks come and show off their insect tattoos," Kimsey said.
The UC Davis museum, founded in 1946 by noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007), is dedicated to teaching, research and service. It is the home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens. The collection is now the seventh largest in North America and includes terrestrial and fresh water arthropods. The museum is also home of the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity of California's deserts, mountains, coast, and the Great Central Valley. In addition, the Bohart features a live "petting zoo" (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas) and an insect-themed gift shop, stocked with T-shirts, hoodies, jewelry, posters, books and insect-collecting equipment.
The Bohart is open to the public year-around (except for holidays) Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m. It is closed to the public on Friday to enable research activities. Admission is free. For more information, access the website or contact the museum at bmuseum@udavis.edu.
