- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It was Saturday, June 25.
Gregory Zebouni of Davis, program manager of the Bruce Hammock laboratory, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, decided he wanted to attend the UC Davis "Eight-Legged Encounters" open house, co-hosted by the Bohart Museum of Entomology and the American Arachnological Society.
His wife, gastroenterologist-hepatologist Valentina Medici, on the faculty of the UC Davis School of Medicine, was unable to attend.
So he asked his son Niccolo, 7, and daughter, Clio, 9, if they wanted to head over to the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane and participate in the spider and insect activities.
"They first were reluctant to go," he acknowledged. "They preferred to go to the pool and Clio has some level of arachnophobia like her dad!"
"However, when they started walking in the corridors of the building and seeing the stuffed animals and then the insects (in the Bohart Museum), holding walking sticks in their hands, and then discovering the treasures of the butterflies' collections, then they did not want to leave and we spent a couple of hours there!" Zebouni said.
"They visited and played at all the exhibits in the hallway. They gave their first names to be immortalized in the naming of the newly found spider by Jason Bond." (Bond and his lab were inviting students 18 and under to suggest names for a new species of trapdoor spider from the genus Promyrmekiaphila.)
A favorite activity at Eight-Legged Encounters? "We were all very much intrigued by the spider who would throw a sticky ball to catch moths at night."
The open house kicked off the annual meeting of AAS, co-hosted by Bond, associate dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Tables of exhibits and hands-on activities lined the hallway of the Academic Surge Building. Visitors also toured the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building. The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, a live "petting zoo" (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas) and an insect-themed gift shop.
During the Zebouni visit, entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera collection, and Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas, a naturalist and insect enthusiast, showed them butterflies and moths.
It was a great Saturday afternoon, the trio agreed. Nobody missed the pool.
And that arachnophobia? Well, it dissipated!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"Tens of millions of years before the orb web evolved, spiders used major ampullate silk in various forms (lampshades, tangles, sheets, funnels, etc.)," according to AAS member Eileen Hebets of the University of Nebraska, who co-hosted the open house as part of her National Science Foundation grant, "Eight-Legged Encounters," aimed at providing community outreach programs, especially for youth. "The first webs were horizontal and were not orbs. Currently, scientists believe that orb web evolved only once."
The open house kicked off the AAS meeting on the UC Davis campus. Arachnologist Jason Bond, associate dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is co-chairing the June 26-30 conference.
"It was about about cribellate and ecribellate silk--or sticky and not-sticky silk," said Keller, a Bohart Museum scientist who studied for her doctorate with UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum. "Some spiders produce silk and place small drops of 'sticky glue' along the silk fibers in a web and that glue traps prey when they hit the web. Other spiders produce 'fuzzy' silk, for lack of a better word, and they spin it very close together. The station was set up to have glue silk and non-glue silk."
As Hebets explains on her website:
- Cribellate silk is produced from numerous tiny silk glands underneath a specialized spinning organ called the cribellum.
- The cribellum is derived from spinnerets (the anterior median spinnerets) and its surface is covered by hundreds- thousands of tiny, elongate spigots which each produces an extremely thin single fibril of cribellate silk (~0.00001mm thick). All spigots act together to produce a single cribellate thread made up of thousands of silk fibrils. All araneomorph spiders were once cribellate, but the cribellum has been lost numerous times.
- Cribellate spiders also possess a row of toothed bristles – the calamistrum – on the metatarsal segment (2nd to last) of the last leg (4th walking leg).
- The combination of flagelliform silk threads and aggregate silk protein glue ~136 million years ago represents a major explosion in spider species numbers. Spiders that combine flagelliform and aggregate silk proteins are in the superfamily Araneoidea. In these spiders, a sticky liquid silk is carried on fibrous silk support lines.
- In summary, cribellate (wooly) and ecribellate (sticky) catching silks increase the prey holding efficiency of webs that act as snares or traps. They represent completely different evolutionary solutions to the same problem.
The procedure:
- Take a piece of pre-cut yarn.
- Pick up one piece of confetti.
- Toss the confetti at the yarn…does it stick?
- On one-half of the yarn, add droplets of glue and toss the confetti at the yarn…does it stick?
- On the other one-half of the yarn, comb it out using the eyebrow brush.
- Once the yarn is combed out, toss a piece of confetti at it…does it stick?
"It was nice to see so many folks out to an event about arachnids," Keller said. "We normally have many people out visiting the Bohart on our weekend open houses. But this was different because it focused on 8-legged invertebrates. It was such a great event getting back in person and interacting with families. It made me realize how much I have missed these outreach events and open houses where we share our passion for insects and science."
The next Bohart open house is set from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, July 16 and will celebrate 50 years of the California dogface butterfly (Zerene eurydice) as the state insect. The state Legislature designated the butterfly as the state insect in 1972. Keller and Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas will share their expertise on the insect. The event is free and family friendly.
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live "petting zoo" (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insect and tarantulas) and an insect-themed gift shop.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Photos, that is, of children's candid expressions?
Priceless.
Curiosity, delight and awe punctuated the open house, co-hosted by the Bohart Museum of Entomology and the American Arachnological Society (AAS), last Saturday afternoon in the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus.
The event drew Iael Raij-Hoffman, a postdoctoral scholar in the UC Davis Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, and her son, Shaked Hoffman, 5, of Davis.
Marta Erismann, 8, of Sacramento, attended with her father, Fernando Erissmann. "She has her sights set on attending UC Davis when she grows up," the father shared. He said he will be studying biomedical engineering in graduate school this fall at UC Davis.
Alexis Rainwater, 8, of Woodland, attending with her parents, participated in many of the activities, including crafting a spider, and submitting a name for the new species of spider in a contest coordinated by the Jason Bond arachnology lab.
Twenty-one-month-old Eleanor Bielski was fascinated by a jarred spider specimen that her mother, Laura McKay held up for her to see.
The open house, "Eight-Legged Encounters, " was a free, family friendly event and an opportunity to talk to the "powerhouse" of arachnologists enrolled in the American Arachnological Society (AAS) conference at UC Davis. The open house kicked off their June 26-30 meeting.
Some 20 tables with exhibits and hands-on activities lined the hallway of Academic Surge on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124, showcased spiders as well as insects. The museum houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, as well as a live "petting zoo" (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas) and an insect-themed gift shop.
The hallway tables featured spider specimens, live arachnids, and art and science activities, noted AAS conference co-chair and arachnologist Jason Bond, associate dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Co-host of the open house was Professor Eileen Hebets of the School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, recipient of a U.S. National Science Foundation grant, “Eight-Legged Encounters,” designed to connect arachnologists with communities, especially youth.
Hebets seeks to educate the public “about the wonders of biology and the possibility of scientific discovery using a charismatic and engaging group of animals--arachnids. Arachnids (spiders and their relatives) are ubiquitous, thriving in most habitable environments on our planet (including underwater),” she says on her website.
On Tuesday, June 28, AAS is sponsoring a series of arachnid lectures, free and open to the public, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the newly constructed 600-seat lecture hall, California Hall. The event will be casual, with scientists discussing their work, Bond said.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Those who know that spiders have eight legs know exactly what's being showcased at the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology open house, "Eight-Legged Encounters," on Saturday, June 25.
Spiders and other arachnids.
And you're invited.
"Eight-Legged Encounters" is a free, family friendly event where you can talk to world-renowned arachnologists who are attending the American Arachnological Society (AAS) conference at UC Davis. The open house kicks off their June 26-30 meeting.
Some 20 tables with exhibits and hands-on activities will line the hallway of Academic Surge on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. “There will be everything--spider specimens, live arachnids, activities, artwork, etc., at the open house," says AAS conference co-chair and arachnologist Jason Bond, associate dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. (Listen to Jason Bond's interview on Capital Public Radio.)
Professor Eileen Hebets of the School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, will set up the displays as part of her U.S. National Science Foundation grant, “Eight-Legged Encounters” that she developed as an outreach project to connect arachnologists with communities, especially youth.
Also at the open house, students 18 and under are invited to suggest a name for a new species of trapdoor spider in a contest coordinated by the Bond lab.
If you want encounters with butterfly, bee or beetle specimens before your eight-legged encounters, step into the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building. It houses eight million insect specimens; a live "petting zoo" (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas); and an insect-themed gift shop. Scientists will be on hand to guide you and answer your questions.
Folks are also looking forward to the AAS series of arachnid lectures, free and open to the public, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, June 28, in the newly constructed 600-seat lecture hall, California Hall.
But first, there's the Eight-Legged Encounters. Not Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but Close Encounters with the Eight-Legged Kind.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"But this weekend some of the country's top experts on arachnids — the group that includes not just spiders but scorpions, mites and ticks, among others — will be in Davis to help demystify the amazing creatures, and even name a new species."
So begins a news story posted today on the Capital Public Radio website by Chris Hagan, managing editor, Digital Content for CapRadio. Senior news producer Drew Sandsor interviewed UC Davis arachnologist Jason Bond, who is co-chairing the American Arachnological Society annual meeting, set June 26-30 at UC Davis. (Listen to the interview here and read the text.)
Bond is the associate dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
AAS will kick off the UC Davis conference by co-hosting an open house, "Eight-Legged Encounters," with the Bohart Museum of Entomology. The event takes place from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, June 25 in the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. It's free, family friendly, and open to the public.
Some 20 exhibits and hands-on activities--educational and entertaining--will be set up in the hallway of the Academic Surge Building. “There will be everything--spider specimens, live arachnids, activities, artwork, etc., at the open house," said Bond, adding that a powerhouse of the nation's arachnologists will participate.
Students 18 and under will be invited to name a newly discovered trapdoor spider species from the genus Promyrmekiaphila. Conference co-host and postdoctoral research associate Lisa Chamberland is coordinating the spider-species naming project with second-year doctoral student Emma Jochim of the Bond lab and incoming doctoral student Iris Bright.
In addition to the open house, AAS has scheduled a series of arachnid lectures, free and open to the public, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, June 28, in the newly constructed 600-seat lecture hall, California Hall.
In the meantime, listen to Sandsor's interview with Jason Bond. You'll learn more about why spiders are essential to the ecosystem, why they are spectacular, and what spiders he likes best.
What's your favorite spider? And have you ever photographed them?
