- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Bohart associate Fran Keller, an assistant professor at Folsom Lake College, and her former entomology teacher David Wyatt, a professor at Sacramento City College, led the tour to Belize, returning with some 100,000 specimens to add to the Bohart collection.
Gordon and Esther Schmierer came from Lodi to donate her 1973-74 collection of Belize specimens. They included a blue morpho (Morpho peleides), one of the world's largest butterflies.
Special guests included Keller's students (okay, they got extra credit for attending) marveled at the Belize specimens and got extra points for holding a live bug, including a walking stick, Madagascar hissing cockroach or a tarantula.
Jordan Bailey, one of Keller's students, gingerly held a walking stick as his classmates photographed him. Milo Kovet of the Keller class arrived with his daughter, Paschela, 8. She delighted in holding a tarantula in the palm of her hand, transferred there by Bohart Museum volunteer Wade Spencer.
Seventeen-year-old Noah Crockette, a budding entomologist who received a grant last year to study beetles in Belize, was part of the Wyatt-Keller tour. He explained his finds to eager visitors.
In the butterfly section, Bohart associate/entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the moth-butterfly specimens, and Bohart associate/naturalist Greg Kareofelas held court, answering questions. Kimber Richardson and Alex Luevano came from Yuba City to see the collection.
Little Mia Brown, 5, of Folsom, delighted in holding a walking stick. The expression on her face: priceless!
The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, houses a global collection of more than eight million specimens. It also includes a live "petting zoo." featuring walking sticks, Madagascar hissing cockroaches and tarantulas. A gift shop, open year around, includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
The Bohart is open to the public from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. No admission is charged, but donations are accepted. The scientists also hold open houses throughout the academic year, which are free and open to the public (and family friendly).
The schedule includes:
Saturday, Nov. 19: 1 to 4 p.m.: “Uninvited Guests: Common Pests Found in the Home”
Sunday, Jan. 22: 1 to 4 p.m.: “Parasite Palooza: Botflies, Fleas and Mites, Oh, My”
Saturday, Feb. 18: (varying times throughout campus): Biodiversity Museum Day, an opportunity to explore 11 UC Davis collections
Sunday, March 19: 1 to 4 p.m.: “Eggs to Wings: Backyard Butterfly Gardening”
Saturday, April 22: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.: “”UC Davis Picnic Day”
More information on the Bohart Museum is available on its website or by contacting (530) 752-0493 or bmuseum@ucdavis.edu. Group tours can be scheduled throughout the year with public education and outreach coordinator Tabatha Yang.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
They brought back some 100,000 specimens, ranging from stunning orchid bees to spectacular morpho butterflies, to add to the museum collection.
Want to learn about their "Un-Belize-able Summer Expedition" and see some of the specimens they collected? And learn how to collect insects? Attend the Bohart Museum's open house on Sunday, Sept. 18. It's set from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. I
It's free and open to the public. And oh, yes, family friendly! Families are encouraged to attend and meet the scientists and see the insects.
Entomologist Fran Keller, a Bohart associate who received her doctorate from UC Davis and is now an assistant professor of biology at Folsom Lake College, co-led the tour with Dave Wyatt, professor of biology at Sacramento City College. "Dave Wyatt was my first introduction to entomology professor," Keller said. "He has been to Belize over 12 times as well as to Costa Rica."
The open house is the first in a series of weekend open houses at the Bohart Museum during the academic year.
Directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, the Bohart Museum is a world-renowned insect museum that houses a global collection of nearly 8 million specimens. It also maintains a live “petting zoo,” featuring walking sticks, Madagascar hissing cockroaches and tarantulas. A 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, Saturdays and Sundays and on major holidays. Admission is free.
More information on the Bohart Museum is available by telephoning (530) 752-0493 or emailing bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's an insect collecting trip to Belize for the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis.
Praised by entomologists for its insect diversity, Belize is a rain-forested country on the eastern coast of Central America, bordered on the north by Mexico, on the south and west by Guatemala, and on the east by the Caribbean Sea.
Leading the 'blitz, set June 20-July 1, are entomologists Fran Keller, who holds a doctorate in entomology from UC Davis and teaches at Sonoma State University, and David Wyatt, an entomology professor at Sacramento City College. Keller, a longtime Bohart Museum associate and volunteer, studied with Wyatt before enrolling in the UC Davis graduate program. Wyatt has taught entomology at Sac City for 15 years. This marks his 12th trip to Belize.
Keller and Wyatt are already in Belize, teaching a Sonoma State class, June 6-June 17. See their blog at https://belizebiodiversity.wordpress.com. "So we are setting up a lot of the collecting equipment early so it will be running for two weeks before the Bohart folks even get here," Keller said.
A 21-member team of professionals, entomology graduates, college students and a couple of teens will participate in the 10-day Bohart Belize Bioblitz. One of them is 17-year-old Noah Crockette of Davis, a longtime Bohart Museum volunteer who will mark his second consecutive collecting trip to Belize.
Crockette won the 2015 senior award from the Coleopterists Society and will be surveying some of the dung beetles from the Stan Creek District in Belize.
"He is an excellent student to mentor and I only hope I am as good a mentor as he is such an excellent student and terrific person," said Keller, who showed him the ropes--along with the bugs, bats, butterflies, birds and frogs--on the 2015 trip.
The bioblitz team met June 1 in the Bohart Museum for a pre-trip discussion. Among those participating: entomologist and "butterfly guy" Jeff Smith, who curates the Bohart Museum's butterfly and moth collection; Bohart Museum senior scientist Steve Heydon; UC Davis entomology graduates Joel Hernandez and Melissa Cruz; former UC Davis Entomology Club president Maia Lundy; and entomology student Tom Nguyen; and "beetle guy" Larry Bezark.
"We are trying to collect as much as we can and some insects will stay in Belize at the field station but most are coming back to the Bohart," said Keller, who studied for her doctorate with major professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart. The insect museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, is the home of nearly eight million insect specimens, collected worldwide.
Thousands more will be collected June 20-July 1.
At the pre-trip meeting, Wyatt and Keller promised an educational, safe and fun trip. "I brought Noah back alive, didn't I?" Keller quipped. Laughter ensued.
"Are you ready for an adventure?" Keller asked the Bohart Belize Bioblitz team. "It's a phenomenal country."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
“Our crowd sourcing ends on Sunday night, April 20," said wildlife biologist David Wyatt, professor at Sacramento City College. (To learn more about the effort or to donate, check out the "Cataloging Insect and Bat Diversity in Belize" website.)
Wyatt, a professor in the field ecology program and a veteran of nine trips to Belize, in Central America, has scheduled the trip for June 2-16, 2014. A veteran of nine trips to Belize, he will guide the research team of six other biologists, including entomologist Fran Keller, his former student. Keller, who is finishing her doctorate in entomology at UC Davis, studies with major professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and UC Davis professor of entomology.
In addition to establishing a major entomology collection in Belize, the research team will conduct an inventory of bats from this area of Belize. An added bonus to the bat work is that the team will be collecting insect ectoparasites from the bats - in particular the bat flies (Nycteribiidae and Streblidae). “These are a fascinating group of parasitic dipterans that only occur on bats with a high degree of coevolution between the bats and the bat flies,” said Wyatt, who specializes in mammals (ringtails and bats) and also extensively studies in entomology.
The researchers are also teaming with the Biodiversity Center of Belize to conduct DNA barcoding of the insect specimens they collect (each will donate a leg to the analysis) and also barcoding of small wing punches of skin from the bats. Regular updates of the project are being blogged under the Lab Notes section of the website. Supporters who donate are automatically informed of new Lab Notes updates by email.
Keller said that starting an entomological collection “is not an easy thing nor is it inexpensive. With university and governmental cutbacks, funding for basic scientific research, such as biodiversity surveys and discovering new species, is rejected and being replaced by studies focused on climate change and alternative energy resources. Insects act as indicators of climate change and understanding the distribution of insects over time informs the scientific community on how various ecosystems are being altered by climate change.”
“Our crowdsource funding is an attempt to fund research through a unique online company called Experiment.com. We are presenting our research proposal to the public and the public will decide the value by backing the project with donations that range from $5 to--well we will take any maximum amount. Any funds over the requested amount will be applied to the collection set up equipment. With only three days left we are hoping to get as many backers as possible. Getting to work with David to establish this collection in Belize is also an opportunity for a former student to give back to a dedicated mentor.”
Keller is an alumnus of Sacramento City College. She began her academic career as a microbiology major but after completing classes in natural history, entomology, and field entomology, she turned her interests from single-celled organisms to multi-cellular animals. She is now teaching science at the college.
Keller credited Wyatt with encouraging her to transfer to UC Davis to continue her education. “David's enthusiasm and energy for teaching and entomology were contagious,” Keller said. “Although I really do enjoy cell and molecular biology, entomology is my true passion and David helped me recognize that fact. David and I have collected insects together many times in the Mojave Desert and Arizona. He also encouraged me to sign up for a one-week course in the summer to work with bats. Many bats rely on insects as their major food source.”
“I guess I have been an entomologist since I was a child but just didn't know it,” Keller said. During her childhood, she collected bees in jars and added flowers "to see what the bees would do." She and her sisters also collected caterpillars and watched them form chrysalids and emerge as butterflies.