- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
What's more fun that netting a butterfly?
Netting two (or more) butterflies.
UC Davis doctoral candidate and dragonfly researcher Christofer Brothers showed youngsters how to net butterflies--paper butterflies, that is--at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Sept. 28. The open house dealt with collecting, pinning identifying and labeling insects.
And appropriately enough, two brothers delighted in testing their skills: Braden Nguyen, 3, and Owen, 18 months old, of Davis. Their mother and grandmother accompanied them. "My three children all visited the Bohart Museum when they were growing up," said grandmother Kathy Bechtold of Davis, "and loved it."
It's a generational thing!
The open house, themed "Museum Fundamentals 101" or "Museum ABCs: Arthropods, Bohart and Collecting," drew some 300 visitors, ranging from toddlers to senior citizens. Displays lined the Bohart Museum and the hallway of the Academic Surge Building.
Among those sharing their knowledge was UC Davis doctoral alumna Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College and a lecturer in the UC Davis Department of Entomology andNematology. Keller, a Bohart research associate, showed and discussed collecting equipment, and emphasized the importance of insect collections. (See more on the Sept. 28th open house)
Braden and Owen were especially interested in the bee vacuums, a favorite of the late Robbin Thorp (1933-2019), UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor. He eagerly showed youngsters how to vacuum bees in the UC Davis Bee Haven, and then how to identify them and release them.
The Bohart Museum, the home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. In addition to the petting zoo, it includes an insect-themed gift shop stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, books, posters and jewelry, among other items. Director is Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
All the open houses are free and family friendly. Parking is also free. The next open house, themed "Specialized Predators of Insects," is set from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 2. Featured will be two doctoral students who study predators: Christofer Brothers of the Stacey Combs lab, who researches dragonflies, and Emma Jochim of the Jason Bond lab, arachnids. Public talks will take place from 1 to 1:30 p.m. in a Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology classroom (next door to the Bohart Museum). The Bohart will be open from 1:30 to 4 p.m.
"There will be live arachnid feedings on the hour, hands-on activities, and carnivorous plants for sale," said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Be sure to attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on "Dragonflies Rule!" from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis.
It's free and family friendly. You'll learn about dragonflies, view dragonfly specimens and publications, and you can ask questions of the scientists.
We announced earlier that dragonfly expert Rosser Garrison, formerly of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, will lend his expertise as will Bohart Museum associate Greg Kareofelas. So will Christopher Beatty, known as "Doc Beatty" on social media; UC Davis doctoral student Christofer Brothers; and UC Davis alumnus Andy Rehn, UC Davis alumnus Andy Rehn, ecologist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, among others.
Christopher Beatty
Christopher Beatty, a visiting scholar in the Program for Conservation Genomics at Stanford University, wrote in an email that he has been working "for a few years on petaltail dragonflies, with much of the work focused on the Black Petaltail (Tanypteryx hageni) in California and Oregon. I am happy to help out answering general questions about dragonflies, and can also answer questions about my research if there is interest." He's on Twitter at @ChrisDBeatty.
ESA established the Founders' Memorial Award in 1958 "to honor the memory of scientists who made outstanding contributions to entomology," according to a website post. ESA announced that "Beatty has focused much of his entomological career studying the behavior and ecology of dragonflies and damselflies, having served in research and teaching positions at the University of Vigo (Spain), Santa Clara University, Cornell University, the University of Kiel (Germany), and Stanford University. He has authored or co-authored more than 25 peer-reviewed articles since 2003, and he is currently co-editing the forthcoming Dragonflies & Damselflies: Model Organisms for Ecological and Evolutionary Research, 2nd Edition (Oxford University Press).
Beatty holds a bachelor's degree (1996) in ecology, ethology, and evolution from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; a master's degree (2002) in environmental science from Oregon State University; and a doctorate (2006) in ecology, evolution, systematics, and population biology from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
Cristofer Brothers
Cristofer Brothers is a fourth-year animal behavior doctoral student. "I'm most interested in how dragonflies use their legs while they capture prey in both of their nymph and adult stages," he said. "My PhD is focusing on the behavior of Libellula saturata, the flame skimmer, and on various other species for phylogenetic comparisons of their behavior and morphology."
"I've been fascinated by dragonflies since I was a kid, and would always try to save adults that fell into the pool. As a teenager, I was a lifeguard and always loved it when dragonflies would perch on my rescue tube, and always wanted to learn more about them. Now, I have the privilege to spend all day reading about, thinking about, and looking at them, so I'm really living the dream!"
"His dissertation will be partly museum-based as he investigates the diversity of spines on dragonfly legs, both in adults and nymphs," said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
Arts and Crafts
Also during the open house, a family arts-and-crafts activity is planned. Guests can color pages from Kathy Claypole Biggs' dragonfly coloring book. Also, guests can view the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) collection, curated by entomologist Jeff Smith; and "pet" and take selfies of some of the live animals in the petting zoo, which include Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas.
The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946, is directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology. It is the global home of eight million insect specimens, as well as the live "petting zoo" and an insect-themed gift shop stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, books, posters, jewelry, collecting equipment and more. Named for UC Davis professor and noted entomologist Richard Bohart, it is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays. More information is available on the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.