When the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology hosts its "bug activities" at Briggs Hall during the 110th annual UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 20, one of the most popular is maggot art.

Children and adults alike create maggot art by using plastic forceps to dip a live maggot into water-based, non-toxic paint. They then watch it--or guide it--to make the drawing they're seeking.

The result: It's suitable for framing (or at least a spot on the refrigerator door).

Rebecca O'Flaherty, a former graduate student of UC Davis forensic entomologist Robert "Bob" Kimsey, coined the educational teaching curriculum,  "Maggot Art," back in 2001 when she was studying at the University of Hawaii and rearing blowflies for her forensic research.

Then, asked to create an activity to draw the interest of elementary school students, she came up with "Maggot Art." She also wanted a way to generate interest and respect for forensic entomology,

It quickly drew national interest. The CSI television show featured one of her works, “Ancient Offering,”  which hung on the permanent set in Gil Grissom's office. O'Flaherty also exhibited her work at art shows, including a two-month exhibition at the Capital Athletic Club, Sacramento, in 2007.

Today, maggot art activities occur sporadically throughout the country. The Entomological Society of America acknowledged O'Flaherty here. "The basic premise is dipping prepuparial blow fly larvae (Diptera: Calliphoridae) into non-toxic ink and then placing them on a piece of paper or file card and letting them crawl around to create an abstract picture. Different larvae are used in different colours to create the picture. Rebecca O'Flaherty first demonstrated this at a North American Forensic Entomology Association Meeting many years ago, and it is a popular activity and many youtubes can be viewed to see how it works." 

Sometimes the young artists get quite attached to a maggot and ask an event coordinator or parent if they can take it home. (Nobody ever gets a "yes!")

(For a complete list of bug activities at Briggs Hall, see the UC Davis Entomology and Nematology website. This year the Bohart Museum of Entomology display and live petting zoo also will be at Briggs. The Bohart headquarters in the Academic Surge Building will be closed on Picnic Day)

A monarch butterfly caterpillar goes through five stages or instars before it J's and becomes a jade-green chrysalis.

Scientists estimate that only 10 percent of the eggs and 'cats survive to adulthood.

They don't "survive" at all in California classrooms.

California classrooms used to showcase the metamorphosis of the monarch--from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to adult-- but no more. If you live in California, you're not allowed to collect or rear monarchs without a scientific permit. And scientific permits are difficult to obtain.

According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife:  "A Scientific Collecting Permit (SCP) is required to handle wild monarchs in California including for educational purposes. It is unlawful to collect, remove from the wild and/or captively rear monarchs in California without an SCP, per California Code of Regulations (CCR), Title 14, section 650.

Admire them in the wild, but legally, you can't collect or rear them. 

As a child growing up in the San Jose area,  entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, "raised and released many, many dozens of monarchs, as most empty lots were filled with vast stands of narrow-leaf milkweed, and we could easily gather caterpillars and keep them fed and healthy until they matured. This was an extraordinary thing to be able to watch--the final instar of the larva molting to change to the beautiful chrysalis and then seeing the butterfly develop within the chrysalis and hatch. We would hold it on our finger as the wings expanded and, finally, the butterfly flew away."

Bugs rule, but other critters do, too, on UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day!

You won't want to miss the eighth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, set from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 16. The free, family friendly event will feature 13 museums or collections.

Have you ever seen a chocolate tree loaded with fruit? Or a plant that folds its leaves when you touch it? No? Ever seen a Humboldt squid, a giant predator that's also known as a jumbo squid? How about a Peruvian sling shot? Or fossils more than 550 million years old?

No? Ever watched scientists prepare a bobcat specimen for display? Or taken a selfie with a red-tailed hawk? Or petted a stick insect or a pine cone? How about kombucha tea--ever tasted it?

You can do that and more at the UC Davis Museum Day. All are within walking distance except for the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road and the Raptor Center on Old Davis Road. The hours vary from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from noon to 4 p.m.

The science-based event, exploring the diversity of life, drew more than 4000 visitors to the campus last year, according to Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology.

New this year is the Marine Invertebrate Collection in the Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive. “Visitors can expect to see specimens collected from Oahu and Baja California, and live corals,” said spokesperson Ivani Li. “There will be a touch tank. At some point there will be a brief presentation about squids where we will be showing off our Humboldt Squid or jumbo squid.”

The UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, always held the Saturday of Presidents' Day weekend, is billed as a “free, educational event for the community where visitors get to meet and talk with UC Davis scientists from undergraduate students to staff to emeritus professors and see amazing objects and organisms from the world around us.” Parking is also free. Maps are available on the Biodiversity Museum Day website at http://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/.

These seven collections will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.:

• Arboretum and Public Garden, Good Life Garden, next to the Robert Mondavi Institute, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus
• Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
• California Raptor Center, 340 Equine Lane, off Old Davis Road
• Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Room 1394, Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
• Paleontology Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building, 434 LaRue Road
• Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus
• Viticulture and Enology Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus

 The following will be open from noon to 4 p.m.:

• Anthropology Museum, 328 Young Hall and grounds
• Botanical Conservatory, Greenhouses along Kleiber Hall Drive
• Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive
• Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Bee Biology Road, off Hopkins Road (take West Hutchison Drive to Hopkins)
• Nematode Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive
• Marine Invertebrate Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive

All participating museums and collections have active education and outreach programs, Yang said, but the collections are not always accessible to the public.   Maps, signs and guides will be available at all the collections, and also online at http://biodiversitymuseumday.edu, and on social media, including Facebook and Twitter, @BioDivDay.

Capsule information on each:

Arboretum and Public Garden 
The Arboretum and Public Garden will present “investigation stations” from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Good Life Garden, next to the Robert Mondavi Institute, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus. Visitors will learn about the importance of bees, hummingbirds and moths as pollinators. They can play fun games, and color and craft their own pollinator pets.

Bohart Museum of Entomology 
The Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, will be open from 9 a.m. to noon, The Bohart is the home of a world-class collection of nearly 8 million insect specimens. Insect scientists will meet with the public to help them explore insects and spiders (arachnids). Highlights will include the 500,000-specimen butterfly/moth collection, curated by entomologist Jeff Smith. The Bohart maintains a live “petting zoo,” comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas.

California Raptor Center
The California Raptor Center, located at 1340 Equine Lane, Davis, just off Old Davis Road, will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visitors will see a living collection of non-releasable raptors, including hawks, owls and a golden eagle. The center's educational ambassador birds will be out "on the fist", so visitors can get a close look and talk to the volunteers about the birds of prey that live in this area.

Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
The Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, located in Room 1394 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane (off LaRue Road) will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. “We're planning an action packed morning with displays highlighting carnivores, bats, reptiles and fish,” said director Andrew Engilis Jr. “There will be specimen preparation demos (bobcat and raptors) as well as a kid crafts table.”

Paleontology Collection 
The Paleontology Collection, located in the Earth and Physical Sciences Building, 434 LaRue Road, will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visitors can view fossil specimens dating from as old as 550 million years ago to more recent animal skeletons. Paleontology graduate students in invertebrate and vertebrate paleontology will answer questions and provide interesting factoids. 

Phaff Yeast Culture Collection and Viticulture and Enology Culture Collection
These collections will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Robert Mondavi Institute,392 Old Davis Road, on campus. Visitors can learn about the importance of microbes in research, biotechnology, and food and beverages, and about the proud history of two of the world's prominent microbe collections.

Visitors can

• Tour the UC Davis teaching winery and brewery
• See and smell dozens of yeast species
• Use microscopes to look at yeast cultures
• Learn how yeasts and bacteria are important for making fermented foods and beverages
• Taste vegemite, marmite, and kombucha tea
• Hear how to make clothes from yeast and bacteria
• Hear about cutting edge research using these microbe collections and
• Listen to yeast jokes

Anthropology Museum
The Department of Anthropology Museum, located in 328 Young Hall, will be open from noon to 4 p.m. The Anthropology Museum curates collections of archaeological, ethnographic, biological and archival materials. Visitors will:

• See how different peoples around the world incorporate biodiversity into personal adornment
• Learn about how the native peoples of the Central Valley made use of the area's biodiversity 
• Find out what our hominin ancestors looked like
• Explore the anatomical diversity of our primate relatives
• Learn to throw a spear with an atlatl or use a Peruvian sling shot to hit your target
• Learn how to make stone tools by flintknapping 
• Explore how archaeologists identify the various animals people used for food, tools, and clothing

The Botanical Conservatory 
The greenhouses in the Botanical Conservatory on Kleiber Hall Drive will be open from noon to 4 p.m. Visitors can expect to see carnivorous plants; a chocolate tree loaded with fruit; succulents and other desert plants including the Madagascan spine forest plants that lemurs climb on; the giant leaves of the Titan arum plant, and Mimosa pudica aka sensitive plant whose leaves fold up when touched, said collections manager Ernesto Sandoval. “And, weather permitting, we'll encourage visitors to stroll the paths of the Biological Orchard and Gardens--an outdoor extension of Botanical Conservatory's role in undergraduate education at UC Davis.”

Center for Plant Diversity Herbarium 
The Center for Plant Diversity Herbarium, located in Room 1026 of the Sciences Laboratory Building, central campus (off Kleiber Hall Drive), will be open from noon to 4 p.m.. Curator Ellen Dean said visitors can tour the collection area, see plant pressing and mounting demonstrations, “pet our plant zoo” (a table showcasing the diversity of plants, including mosses, pine cones, ferns and flowering plants); look and plants under a microscope, and view oak exhibit. The children's activity? Making herbarium specimens.

Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee demonstration garden located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, Bee Biology Road, will be open from noon to 4 p.m.. “The focus this year will be the link between bee health and human health through effective crop pollination and an overview of our research into bee plant preferences for common garden plants,” said manager Chris Casey. Also planned is a catch-and-release activity in which youths catch bees with a vacuum device, view them, and then release them. A six-foot long sculpture of a worker bee by artist Donna Billick of Davis anchors the haven, which was planted in the fall of 2009.

Nematode Collection 
The nematode collection will open from noon to 4 p.m. in the Science Laboratory Building, (off Kleiber Hall Drive. It will feature both live and slide-mounted nematodes, as well as jars of larger parasites. Nematodes, also called worms, are described as “elongated cylindrical worms parasitic in animals or plants or free-living in soil or water. They exist in almost every known environment.”

Marine Invertebrate Collection
The Marine Invertebrate Collection will open from noon to 4 p.m. in the Science Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive. Visitors can view specimens collected from Oahu and Baja California, and live corals. There also will be a touch tank and Humboldt squid presentation.

It's about value. It's about respect. It should not be about fear.

UC Davis entomology major Lohitashwa “Lohit” Garikipati, who will be displaying his praying mantis collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology during the seventh annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 17, is keenly interested in sharing information about insects.

“Every organism on the Earth has value, and we should respect that,” says Garikipati, a third-year entomology student who rears praying mantises. “Regardless of its appearance, its lifestyle, or its behaviors, all the life that we see here on Earth is the result of change billions of years in the making. There's nothing that is scary, or disgusting; fear is taught, and the sooner we stop fearing and start appreciating, the sooner we can save as much biodiversity on the Earth as we can. It only takes one second to decide you care enough to stop fearing, so why not start now?”

Lohit (pronounced “Lo-Heat”)  serves as secretary of the UC Davis Entomology Club, which is advised by forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

“What I like most about mantids, besides their amazing appearance, is how charismatic they are compared to other insects,” says Lohit. “Their behavior varies between species, but all have this awareness that most other insects lack, which make them fun to interact with and study. Their predatory behavior is also interesting.”

Garikipati, a native of Pleasanton, Calif., says he's been interested in praying mantises since elementary school. “I started rearing native species in the 5th grade,” he recalled. “I kept a Mantis religiosa (European mantis) and hatched the ooths she laid. Since then I've had in my collection over a dozen species throughout that time. There wasn't any one species that I ended up consistently rearing, as I would get nymphs, rear them ‘til I got a second generation, then trade or sell them to get a new species. I will definitely be keeping orchids as long as I can though!”

Currently in his collection:

• Two adult female orchid mantises (Hymenopus coronatus)
• A pair of male and female adult Australian rainforest mantises (Hierodula majuscula)
• A pair of male and female 4th instar ghost mantises (Phyllocrania paradoxa)
• A 5th instar female African spiny flower mantis (Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii)
• Three third instar Decimiana bolivari (there's no agreed upon common name, but they can be called South American dead leaf mantises, he says).

Why should people like praying mantises? “For a group of insects that's very widely known, there unfortunately is not much scientific work done on them,” says Garikipati. “They've been mostly neglected which is pretty sad to see for such gorgeous insects. From a non-scientific standpoint, mantises can be incredibly interesting to observe, due to their awareness, and their generally curious nature. I've definitely had individuals reared from the hatchling stage that get so comfortable with you they'll just lay in your hand, which is crazy to think that an insect would do such a thing. They have quite the personality! One thing that is rather unfortunate is that the media likes to play up the mantis eating hummingbird brains angle, to get attention, and unfortunately that has given the mantis a negative stigma. While they do eat hummingbirds and many other small vertebrates, the number is astoundingly low compared to the number of animals humans, or even pet cats kill every year. They're generalist predators, meaning they'll eat anything they can catch.”

Lohit traces his interest in all insects to early childhood. “I've had an innate interest in animals in general as long as I can remember, insects just happened to be the most fun and most easy to find and study! The thing that fascinates me most about insects is their massive diversity and the ability insects have to surprise us by breaking what we think an animal can do. For example, wasps photosynthesizing.”

He is interested in enrolling in graduate school, “possibly in Davis--I'm not quite sure yet. Currently, my career plans involve doing research on mantis ecology, as well as updating taxonomy. Many genera need a lot of work and updated descriptions for the species they contain. I would like to be a professor as well!”

When he's not working with insects, Lohit enjoys “playing guitar, going to the gym, or trying to climb the mountain of homework or studying I have!”

Meanwhile, visitors can see learn all about praying mantises--and hold and photograph them--from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Feb. 17 at the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane. The Bohart, directed by entomology professor Lynn Kimsey, is the home of a global collection of nearly 8 million insect specimens, and a live "petting zoo," comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas.  Also on Feb. 17, highlights at the Bohart Museum will include the 500,000-specimen butterfly/moth collection, curated by entomologist Jeff Smith; and an insect collection display by Smith and fellow Bohart Museum associates Fran Keller and Dave Wyatt from their latest expedition to Belize. "You'll be able to see the tremendous diversity of butterflies, moths and mantids, and talk to the scientists who have just returned from there," said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.  "There will be orchids and orchid bees connecting the Bohart Museum's work with plant biology and science."

The Bohart Museum is one of the 13 museums or collections on campus where visitors can explore “the diversity of life” on Biodiversity Museum Day.  All are within walking distance on campus except for the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road and the Raptor Center on Old Davis Road. Set from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the event is free and open to the public. Parking is also free. Times will vary from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and from noon to 4 p.m..

The following will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.:

• Arboretum and Public Garden, Good Life Garden, next to the Robert Mondavi Wine and Food Science Institute, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus
• Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
• California Raptor Center, 340 Equine Lane, off Old Davis Road
• Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Room 1394, Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
• Paleontology Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building, 434 LaRue Road
• Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus
• Viticulture and Enology Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus

The following will be open from noon to 4 p.m.:

• Anthropology Museum, 328 Young Hall and grounds
• Design Museum, 124 Cruess Hall, off California Avenue
• Botanical Conservatory, Greenhouses along Kleiber Hall Drive
• Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive
• Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Bee Biology Road, off Hopkins Road (take West Hutchison Drive to Hopkins)
• Nematode Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive

All participating museums and collections have active education and outreach programs, Yang said, but the collections are not always accessible to the public. See capsule information about the museums and collections here.   In the event of rain, alternative locations are planned for the outdoor sites. Maps, signs and guides will be available at all the collections, online, and on social media, including Facebook and Twitter, @BioDivDay.