If you walk into the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, you might see UC Davis student Ivana Trinh Satre entering moth data on the LepNet database.

It's a database but she also has a fan base.

Ivana is entered in the Miss Vietnam Northern California/Miss Vietnam Sacramento Pageant--and entomologists, fellow insect enthusiasts, classmates, family and friends are rooting for her and hoping she wins.

Ivana is one of 14 candidates in the Sacramento-based pageant. The overall winner will be named Miss Vietnam Northern California and the second-place winner, Miss Vietnam Sacramento. The winners will be determined by People's Choice or online voting (open to all). Voting ends at noon, Pacific  Time, on Saturday, March 23. The pageant itself takes place from 3 to 7 p.m., Sunday, March 24 at 6200 McMahon Drive, Sacramento.

Entering a pageant is new to her but this one is special. “I am half-Vietnamese, half-white,” Ivana related. “My mom escaped Vietnam and stayed at a refugee camp in Malaysia for a few years before finally coming to the United States in 1984.” Her father is a computer engineer and her mother, the activities coordinator at a senior living center. Ivana is one of four children; she has an older and younger brother, and a younger sister.

“To me, this pageant is an opportunity to build confidence and learn more about myself,” she said. “I feel like I didn't experience much of my culture growing up in Brentwood, Calif. The only time I would even hear the language was when we visited our relatives in San Jose. I'm hoping that through this competition, I can learn a little about myself and my culture. I also hope to serve as a role model for other young women who are still figuring out who they are and where they belong in the world. By winning this pageant, I hope to inspire others to celebrate their differences and embrace their inner beauty.”

“Right now, I am a fourth-year animal science major and medical-veterinary entomology minor at UC Davis," Ivana said. “I enjoy learning about all animals, including arthropods." In addition to working at the Bohart Museum, she's an intern at an animal hospital in south Sacramento.

Her resume includes such previous positions as spay and neuter volunteer for the Yolo County Animal Service, research volunteer at the UC Davis Meyer Avian Facility, research volunteer at the UC Davis feedlot, and hospital volunteer at Kaiser Permanente.

Ivana plans to receive her bachelor of science degree in animal science this spring, and then will apply for vet school this summer. "I plan to work as a vet assistant during my gap year." 

Her work at the Bohart? "I've been LepNet databasing for a little over a year," she said, adding that "My favorite moths are sphingids due to their wing patterns and the fact that they look like torpedoes.”

The LepNet database is aimed at integrating millions of Lepidoptera occurrence records, and the Bohart Museum is one of the museums involved in the project. The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, houses a global collection of nearly eight million insect specimens, including 500,000 in the Lepidoptera collection alone.

Ivana is active in the UC Davis Entomology Club, and currently serves as the media coordinator. 

“My interest in bugs first started when I took an entomology class in high school, and the teacher gave me a hissing cockroach from his colony to keep as a pet,” Ivana recalled. "The class actually went to the Bohart Museum for a field trip, and it was one of the reasons I liked UC Davis so much!”

“I currently have two pet scorpions, two tarantulas, a centipede, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, and goldfish. I also have a ton of succulents and houseplants."  Once she's settled into a career and larger apartment, Ivana hopes to add a dog, some reptiles and "of course, more bugs."  When she's not studying, LepNet databasing, or interning at the animal care center, Ivana  enjoys hiking, cooking, baking, playing the flute, and spending time with friends and family.

Meanwhile, the People's Choice voting is underway, one vote per IP address (which means votes can be counted on  separate devices, such as a cell phone and a laptop computer). Click here to vote: https://www.surveylegend.com/s/1bxp (The UC Davis student is No. 2 on the list.) Folks can find more information about the pageant by accessing Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MissVietnamNorthernCalifornia/.

From UC Davis animal science major to Miss Vietnam Northern California?

We recently posted information about the Bohart Museum of Entomology's upcoming open house on "Eight-Legged Wonders," and several people responded that they absolutely HATE spiders, and that we should have prefaced it with a SPOILER ALERT: "SPIDER PHOTOS! BEWARE!"

Spiders--especially jumping spiders, crab spiders and orb weavers--fascinate me. They've been around for 400 million years and are cunning, skillful  predators. I don't relish them eating a honey bee in our pollinator garden,  but everything has to eat. If I were in charge of their culinary habits, though, I'd point them in the general direction of a delicious stink bug or a scrumptious green bottle fly or a tasty lygus bug. And ask them, pretty please, to leave my honey bees alone.

Still, many people fear spiders. Arachnophobia is a common phobia, but there are five good reasons to like spiders, according to Jason Bond of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

The five good reasons to like spiders?

1. Spiders consume 400-800 million tons of prey, mostly insects, each year. Humans consume somewhere around 400 million tons of meat and fish each year.
2. Spider silk is one of the strongest naturally occurring materials. Spider silk is stronger than steel, stronger and more stretchy than Kevlar; a pencil thick strand of spider silk could be used to stop a Boeing 747 in flight.
3. Some spiders are incredibly fast – able to run up to 70 body lengths per second (10X faster than Usain Bolt).
4. Athough nearly all 47,000-plus spider species have venom used to kill their insect prey, very few actually have venom that is harmful to humans.
5. Some spiders are really good parents –wolf spider moms carry their young on their backs until they are ready to strike out on their own; female trapdoor spiders keep their broods safe inside their burrows often longer than one year, and some female jumping spiders even nurse their spiderlings with a protein rich substance comparable to milk.

Bond will showcase spiders and other arachnids at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house, “Eight-Legged Wonders,” from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, March 9, a free and family friendly event. He will present a slide show at 1, and then visitors can participate in interactive activities, including “How to Eat Like a Spider” and “How to Assemble an Arachnid.”Bond, who is the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will present a 10-minute slide show at 1 p.m. in the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology classroom, located on the first floor of the Academic Surge Building, next to the Bohart Museum. 

Following his presentation, activity stations will be open in the Bohart Museum where visitors can “Assemble an Arachnid,” “Create a Chelicerate,” “Cribellate vs. Ecribellate Silk,”  “Catch a Moth,” “Eat Like a Spider,” and learn about "Spider Senses" and “Trapdoor Specifics.”

Visitors will see live specimens and specimens in alcohol. They'll learn the differences between woolly silk and sticky silk. They'll see the Bohart arachnids--tarantulas--and hold some of the non-arachnids, including walking sticks and Madagascar hissing cockroaches. 

“Spiders are an incredibly diverse group with more than 50,000 species described with probably another 200,000 remaining to yet be discovered,” says Bond, who joined the department last July from Auburn University, Alabama. “They are quite ancient, with fossils dating back well over 300 million years and are known to be exclusively predatory.”

Bond joined the UC Davis faculty after a seven-year academic career at Auburn University, Ala. He served as professor of biology and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences from January 2016 to July 2018, and as curator of arachnids and myriapods (centipedes, millipedes, and related animals) at the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, from August 2011 to July 2018.

The Bohart Museum of Entomology, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, houses nearly eight million insect specimens collected from all over the world. It also includes a gift shop and a live “petting zoo,” comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas.

You've heard of the Seven Wonders of the World.

But have you heard of the "Eight-Legged Wonders?"

You won't want to miss the "Eight-Legged Wonders" open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, March 9 at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis.

If you miss it, you'll miss your opportunity to learn about spiders from an international expert, and miss the opportunity to "Assemble an Arachnid," "Create a Chelicerate" and "Eat Like a Spider."

Eat like a spider? Tabatha Yang, Bohart Museum's education and outreach coordinator, related you'll get to “slurp up soggy cookies.” 

The event, free and family friendly, takes place primarily in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane.

Arachnid expert Jason Bond, who is the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will present a 10-minute slide show at 1 p.m. in the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology classroom, located on the first floor of the Academic Surge Building, next to the Bohart Museum. 

Then, scores of activity stations will be open in the Bohart Museum where visitors can “Assemble an Arachnid,” “Create a Chelicerate,” “Cribellate vs. Ecribellate Silk,”  “Catch a Moth,” “Eat Like a Spider,” and learn about "Spider Senses" and “Trapdoor Specifics.”

You'll see live specimens and specimens in alcohol. You'll learn the differences between woolly silk and sticky silk. You'll also see the Bohart arachnids--tarantulas--and hold some of the non-arachnids, including walking sticks and Madagascar hissing cockroaches.

“Spiders are an incredibly diverse group with more than 50,000 species described with probably another 200,000 remaining to yet be discovered,” says Bond, who joined the department last July from Auburn University, Alabama. “They are quite ancient, with fossils dating back well over 300 million year and are known to be exclusively predatory. In fact, based on a study published last year, spiders are estimated to consume somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 million tons of insect biomass.”

“To capture insects, and other prey item--sometimes even vertebrates--most spiders employ silk and venom to snare and subdue their victims,” the arachnologist says. “Spider silk is an amazingly strong, proteinaceous material that is produced in many different forms; venoms are likewise complex, diverse proteins. All of this to say – what's not to like – spiders are a tremendously ecological important predatory group, that has persisted on the planet for 100s of millions of years and employ a remarkable suite of silks and venoms to make a living.”

Highly respected for his expertise on spiders, Bond served as the plenary keynote speaker at the 2016 International Arachnological Congress, and also keynoted the 2012 European Arachnological Congress.

Born in Johnson City, Tenn., Bond is a U.S. Army veteran who served for a number of years as a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter crew chief. He received his bachelor's degree in biological sciences, cum laude, in 1993 from Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, and his master's degree in biology in 1995 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg. He earned his doctorate in evolutionary systematics and genetics in 1999 from Virginia Tech.

All three degrees focused on arachnids. His undergraduate thesis involved silk spigots; his master's degree, systematics of the spider genera Mallos and Mexitlia; and his doctoral dissertation covered “Systematics and Evolution of the Californian Trapdoor Spider Genus Aptostichus Simon (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Cyrtaucheniidae).”

What drew him to arachnology? As an undergraduate researcher at Western Carolina University, Bond worked with noted arachnologists Jackie Palmer and Fred Coyle. “My first research project was related to functional morphology (evolution of the spinning apparatus in more primitive spiders) but quickly shifted to systematics and taxonomy.”

Bond joined the UC Davis faculty after a seven-year academic career at Auburn University, Ala. He served as professor of biology and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences from January 2016 to July 2018, and as curator of arachnids and myriapods (centipedes, millipedes, and related animals) at the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, from August 2011 to July 2018.

It was at Auburn University where Bond and his colleagues discovered a new species of trapdoor spider that drew international attention and a news story in the Huffington Post. They named it Myrmekiaphilia tigris, or the Auburn Tiger Trapdoor Spider, in honor of the university's costumed tiger mascot, Aubie. The discovery was exciting but not “surprising,” Bond told the Huffington Post, pointing out that it took taxonomists about 250 years to describe about 1.8 million plants and animals, and that this scratches the surface of what scientists estimate to be between five and 30 million overall species on earth.

The amazing eight-legged wonders!

When you're 5 years old, the world is full of wonders.

Especially when your mother takes you to the Bohart Museum of Entomology to see the butterfly specimens.

Such was the case when Cash Belden, 5, and his mother, Michelle Belden (she's the coordinator of the campus Aggie Surplus, formerly the Bargain Barn) attended the Bohart Museum open house during the eighth annual campuswide UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day.

Little Cash especially liked the monarchs and the blue morphos.

Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the butterfly/moth section at the Bohart, showed them around. He estimates the Bohart has half a million Lepitoptera in the collection, about 60 percent moths and 40 percent butterflies.

He mentioned the "defensive strategies these insects use for survival, such as camouflage, warning coloration, mimicry of other species."

"We love to teach about the importance of Lepidoptera in the environment, either to their habitat directly or possibly as an indicator of the health of their habitat."

And, of course, there's the beauty of the insects.

Next time it's spiders!

The next open house, themed "Eight-Legged Wonders" and featuring spiders, is set from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, March 9. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. It's free and family friendly. Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will host a slide show at 1 p.m.  Visitors will see specimens and can engage in interactive activities and family arts and crafts.

The Bohart Museum, home of a global collection nearly eight million specimens, is directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis. It is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum.

Special attractions include a “live” petting zoo, featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas. Visitors are invited to hold the insects and photograph them. The museum's gift shop, open year around, includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.

The Bohart Museum's regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The museum is closed to the public on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free. Open houses, focusing on specific themes, are held on weekends throughout the academic year. More information on the Bohart Museum is available by contacting (530) 752-0493 or Tabatha Yang, education and public outreach coordinator at tabyang@ucdavis.edu.