If you want to know what it's like to eat a bug—doesn't everybody?--ask an entomologist, a bug ambassador, or an entomophagist, one who eats insects.

So we did…Because the Bohart Museum of Entomology is hosting an open house on entomophagy from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 21 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane--and you're invited.

The event, free and family friendly, is an opportunity to participate in the joy of eating...drum roll...insects! And for that, you'll get a button proclaiming “I ate a bug at the Bohart."

If you're not into eating insects, you can cuddle and photograph the critters in the live "petting zoo," or view insect specimens. Just remember that 80 percent of the world consumes insects as a protein source. Some 1700 species of insects are edible.

“Many insects are quite edible and if you try them, you might find that crickets are the new shrimp,” says Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. “Personally, I like flavored mealworms."

"Just think of insects as terrestrial shrimp or crab," adds senior museum scientist Steve Heydon.

Now, what do other entomologists and bug ambassadors think about eating insects?

Danielle Wishon
Danielle Wishon, who holds a bachelor's degree in entomology from UC Davis, is an entomophagist. She likes baking with mealworms when she's not working five jobs, including (1) teaching assistant in the lab of UC Davis alumnus Fran Keller, assistant professor at Folsom Lake College, and (2) police services officer for the Lafayette Police Department.

“Mealworm cookies are visually fun and taste good,” Wishon said. “It's my understanding that people with nut allergies will sometimes make cookies and cakes with ground-up mealworms because they have a ‘nutty flavor' but don't bother their allergies. Crickets are good as well, but only if they are baked or sauteed.”

Rather than asking "why,” Wishon asks "why not?"

“Most of the world includes arthropods in their diet,” Wishon noted. “We do, too; we just think of them differently because we pull them out of the sea. Depending on the arthropod, they are healthy, abundant, and an eco-friendly alternative to other sources of protein.”

Back in 2014, Wishon participated in a “Beer and Bugs” event (Bugs and Beer—Why Crickets and Kölsch Might Be Matches in Heaven” at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science. It featured UC Davis Professor Charles Bamforth, aka “The Pope of Foam,” and David George Gordon, aka "The Bug Chef," extolling the virtues of beer and bugs. Guests sampled eight different insect-inspired creations in what was billed as "an ultimate tasting experience."

Wishon ate a baked cricket. A very large cricket.

She liked it, too!

That's not to say she likes consuming all crickets. “I once ate a boiled cricket and it was absolutely disgusting!”

Leslie Saul-Gershenz
When we asked entomologist Leslie Saul-Gershenz, who holds a doctorate in entomology from UC Davis and is associate director of research, Wild Energy Initiative, John Muir Institute of the Environment, UC Davis campus, if she has cooked with insects and eaten them, she responded:

“Many times! I have baked chocolate chip chirpies,  made cricket dip surprise, mealworm pizza and eaten all of them.  I have eaten beetle larvae in Papua, New Guinea and Peru and grasshoppers in Mexico. Seriously, they are important sources of protein all around the world and they are eaten regularly in most cultures except ours.  We, of course, eat their close relatives the crustaceans without hesitation.”

Greg Kareofelas
Bohart Museum associate and naturalist/photographer Greg Kareofelas of Davis remembers when he and colleague Danielle Wishon participated in the “insect-eating affair” at the Mondavi Institute.  Frankly, he doesn't make a habit of eating insects. "My favorite is pizza," he says.

Kareofelas can usually be found at the Bohart Museum open houses showing visitors the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moth) section with curator and entomologist Jeff Smith.

“I think it was Dan Janzen (noted evolutionary biologist and conservationist affiliated with  the University of Pennsylvania) that used to say he ‘chewed' butterflies and moths to see how they would taste to birds--the “distasteful monarch” thing," Kareofelas related. "Reading that was the closest I have gotten to eating Leps (Lepidopderans).” 

“I will try and keep an open mind at the open house,” Kareofelas promised. “But my favorite is still pizza!”

'I Ate a Bug at the Bohart'
Various companies, including Hotlix, Exo and Chirps Chips, are providing samples for the Bohart Museum open house, says education and outreach coordinator Tabatha Yang. Visitors will learn about entomophagy, sample insect-based foods, make buttons (“I ate a bug at the Bohart”), view the collection, and handle insects from the petting zoo, which includes Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks or stick insects, tarantulas and praying mantids.

The event coincides with "Student Move-in Day," when students head back to campus for the academic year, and family and friends help them move.  Many campus visitors are expected to tour the Bohart Museum.

The Bohart Museum, founded by noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007), houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It is home to the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. It also maintains a year-around gift shop, which is stocked with T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.

The insect museum is open to the public Mondays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m., except on holidays. More information on the Bohart Museum is available on the website at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by contacting (530) 752-0493 or bmuseum@ucdavis.edu. (See list of open houses for the 2019-2020 academic year.)

They are legends.

Two of those attending the four-day international Lepidopterists' Society conference held recently at the University of California, Davis, are as celebrated in Lepidoptera circles as the butterflies they study.

Robert Michael Pyle, a septuagenarian, and Paul Opler, an octogenarian, are international authorities on the insect order and share a love of science, teaching, and writing. 

The two were among those who gathered at the Bohart Museum of Entomology during the Lepidopterists' Society conference. Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis professor of entomology, hosted two visits with several other Davis-based society members: retired research entomologist John De Benedictus; entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the Bohart Museum's Lepidoptera collection; Bohart senior museum scientist Steve Heydon, and Bohart associate and naturalist Greg Kareofelas.

"This was our 68th annual meeting," said society president Brian Scholtens, a professor at the College of Charleston, South Carolina. "We have more than 1000 members worldwide."

This year's meeting, headquartered in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Hall in downtown Davis, included two scientific gatherings at the Bohart Museum of Entomology.

The conference focused on the theme, "Insects in a Changing World Climate." "Attendees came from as far away as Finland to hear student and member speakers and to meet with their fellow Lepidopterists," said Smith. Marianne Horak of the Australian National Insect Collection received the prestigious Karl Jordan Medal, in absentia, at a banquet on the closing night.

The conference t-shirt and name tags depicted the California state insect, the dogface butterfly, Zerene eurydice.

Robert Michael Pyle
Robert Michael Pyle, a Yale-trained ecologist and a Guggenheim fellow,  is the founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. He has authored 23 publications, including the comprehensive National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies, a go-to reference source. Among his other insect-related books: Chasing Monarchs: Migrating with the Butterflies of Passage, which chronicles his 9,000-mile journey to discover the secrets of the monarchs' annual migration. For his book,  Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year, Pyle sought to track, firsthand, the 800 species of butterflies known in the United States. The book is a result of his 88,000 mile journey.

Pyle, now a resident of Grays River, Washington, recently published Magdalena Mountain: A Novel, about three Magdalenas:

• Mary, a woman on an uncertain journey;
• Magdalena Mountain, "shrouded in mystery and menace" and
• The Magdalena alpine butterfly, an all-black alpine butterfly, considered "the most elusive of several rare and beautiful species found on the mountain."

While at the Bohart Museum, Pyle delighted in examining the Magdalena specimens.

Paul Opler
Professor Paul Opler, attending with his wife, naturalist/writer/nature photographer Evi Buckner-Opler, is a special appointment professor at Colorado State University. He is best known for his research on insect host relationships of Lepidoptera and tropical ecology and his service as first editor of American Entomologist, published by the Entomological Society of America (ESA). A fellow of ESA and a prolific writer, he authored field guides to both eastern and western butterflies. He is also known for his contribution to Moths of Western North America, and his role as scientific editor of "Status and Trends of Our Nation's Biological Resources."

UC Berkeley Reunion
Three entomologists, trained directly or indirectly by Professor (now emeritus) Jerry Powell of UC Berkeley reunited at the Bohart gathering:   Dan Rubinoff, professor of entomology and director of the University of Hawaii Insect Museum, Honolulu; "Moth Man" John De Benedictus, retired UC Davis research entomologist; and Paul Opler, who retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the first entomologist in the Endangered Species Program and then accepted a special appointment professor in the Department of Bioagricultural Sciences at Colorado State University. 

All three received degrees in entomology from UC Berkeley.  Opler (Ph.D) and De Benedictus (Masters) studied with Powell, while Rubinoff (Ph.D) studied with Powell's successor, Felix Sperling.

At the Bohart gathering, director Lynn Kimsey gifted the attendees with a copy of the museum's innovative calendar featuring humorous sentences she collected from students in her classroom. UC Davis entomology student/artist Karissa Merritt illustrated the calendar.

The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, is the home of nearly eight million insect specimens and the California Insect Survey. They're used as an "insect library" or references during identifications. They're also a permanent record of insect species' distribution in time and space.

In addition, the Bohart Museum houses a gift shop and a live "petting zoo," comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas.

More information is available on the website or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu or (530) 753-0493.

Oh, what a (Moth) Night!

It was a family night in more ways than one.

Families who attended the Bohart Museum of Entomology's annual Moth Night last Saturday, Aug. 3, not only saw  specimens from scores of insect families inside the UC Davis insect museum, but outside as well.

The blacklighting display drew at least 11 different species from five moth families: Tineidae, Tortricidae, Pyralidae, Geometridae, and Noctuidae, according to Bohart associate and "Moth Man"  John De Benedictis.

De Benedictis, along with senior museum scientist Steve Heydon and Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas, set up the blacklighting display, comprised of a hanging white sheet illuminated by a generator-powered ultraviolet (UV light).

Moths that visited the blacklighting display from around 9:15 to 11 p.m. included:

Family Tineidae:
Opogona omoscopa (Opogona crown borer)

Family Tortricidae:
Clepsis peritana
Platynota stultana (omnivorous leafroller)
Cydia latiferreana (filbertworm)

Family Pyralidae:
Achyra rantalis (garden webworm)
Ephestiodes gilvescentella (dusky raisin moth)
Cadra figuliella

Family Geometridae:
Digrammia muscariata

Family Noctuidae:
Spodoptera exigua (beet armyworm)
Spodoptera praefica (western yellow-striped armyworm)
Parabagrotis formais

In comparison, De Benedictis found 14 species in his backyard the following night, while Karofelas found nine in his yard. Both live in Davis.

"At this time of year, I get 15 to 20 species most nights," said De Benedictis, an entomologist who started blacklighting in his backyard in 1998 and at Cold Canyon in 1989. "On the best nights, I'll get about 30 species in my yard and more than 100 at Cold Canyon. In recent years (since 2012), I've run my backyard light as many as 260 nights a year and have been getting 140 to 170 species each year."

Since 1998, he has recorded more than 350 species at night from his yard (including an occasional butterfly or skipper), "but there are at least 25 more that I have not identified, so I estimate I've collected 400 plus species in my yard in 21 years when diurnal (day-flying) species are included in the count."

If you attended Moth Night and you cultivate citrus, strawberries, pomegranates or cucumbers, you may have recognized some of the moths on the blacklighting display or seen the larval pests. For example, the omnivorous leafroller is a pest of citrus. The filbertworm is a pest of pomegranate. The Opogona crown borer is commonly found in bird of paradise plants, but also attacks strawberries, according to the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM). The Spodoptera exigua (beet armyworm) and Spodoptera praefica (western yellow-striped armyworm) are pests of cucurbits (cucumber family).

Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) collection at the Bohart, spent the evening, 8 to 11, describing moths, showing specimens, and answering questions. "Moths can be distinguished from butterflies by their antennae, which always taper out to a fine point at the end, while butterflies' antennae end with an enlarged club," he said. "Very few butterflies can be labeled as pests, while a great many species of moths are pests, often extremely damaging kinds such as the gypsy moth, corn earworm, tent caterpillars, and California oak moth."

Smith estimates the Bohart's global moth collection at 300,000 to 350,000 specimens of moths.  "A recent donation from a local collector likely added another 25,000 specimens of moths alone."

"A great many of the colorful moths are diurnal, including hummingbird moths that mimic bumble bees, clearwing moths that mimic wasps, and Arctiid moths that mimic toxic and distasteful butterflies such as Heliconians and Glassywings from South America," Smith said.

In size, visitors saw the biggest (Atlas) to the smallest moth.  "Our smallest moth is one from Africa that was overlooked in the alcohol in which it was captured because of its tiny size," Smith pointed out. "Finally, a student separating the insects in the alcohol found it, and it is nearly microscopic."  Visitors also marveled at the hummingbird moth which has a proboscis (tongue) that 12 inches long.

Bohart associate Emma Cluff curated the silkworm moths and silks display. She gathered silkworm moths from the Bohart Museum collection, and textiles from a donation by Richard Peigler, a moth expert and biology professor at the University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas.

The family craft activity involved coloring and stringing white cocoons (donated by Peigler) to make necklaces or bracelets. Cluff and fellow entomologist enthusiast Keely Davies created a huge luna moth in the hallway. Some 200 visitors participated in the free and family friendly event.

The moth exhibit is currently on display at the Bohart Museum.

Founded in 1946 by Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007), and directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis professor of entomology, the Bohart Museum houses a global collection of nearly eight million insect speicments. It is s also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America; the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity; a live "petting zoo" and a gift shop.

The Bohart Museum's regular hours have changed for the summer season. As of July 3, the insect museum is hosting 30-minute tours starting at 2:30 and 3:30 pm. No reservations are required and all ages are welcome. Admission is free, but donations are always welcomed. The Bohart is open to walk-in visitors Monday through Thursday from 1 to 5 p.m. It is closed from 9 a.m. to noon to walk-in visits (the insect museum conducts many tours and outreach programs during those times). More information on the Bohart Museum is available on the website or by contacting (530) 752-0493 or email bmuseum@ucdavis.edu. 

Yes, there are day-flying moths.

And some of them are quite attractive.

Take the Stiriini moth, Annaphila astrologa.

We saw our first-ever last March in our pollinator garden.  Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology, and naturalist Greg Kareofelas, an associate at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, identified it as a Annaphila astrologa, a small Noctuid.

"It's a medium-sized genus of attractive day-flying moths,” Shapiro said.

It's a species of owlet moth in the family Noctuidae, first described by William Barnes and James Halliday Mcunnough in 1918.  A host plant is whispering bells, Emmenanthe penduliflora, a grassland wildflower native to California, according to calscape.org.

Moths and butterflies share the same order, Lepidoptera, but they don't share much else. Moths usually fly at night, not during the day, and moths are generally dull in coloring, compared to butterflies.  Moths also outnumber butterflies. Scientists estimate there are some 160,000 described species of moths in the world, as compared to about 17,500 species of butterflies.

Want to learn more about moths? Attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology's Moth Night, set from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 3. It's all free and family friendly. You can:

• View the moths (and butterflies) in the collection curated by entomologist Jeff Smith.
• Talk to the scientists, including senior museum scientist Steve Heydon of the Bohart Museum; Jeff Smith, curator of the the moth and butterfly specimens; and Bohart associates "Moth Man" John DeBenedictis and Greg Kareofelas.
• Check out the display of silkworm moths and silks curated by Emma Cluff. The silkworm moths are from the Bohart Museum collection and the textiles were donated by Richard Peigler, a biology professor at the University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas
• Engage in a family craft activity; "kids will be able to color and string white cocoons and make necklaces or bracelets with them," Cluff says.
• Watch the insects that touch down on the blacklighting display, which involves a hanging white sheet illuminated by a generator-powered ultraviolet (UV) light. This won't occur until darkness falls, usually starting around 9 or 9:30.
• Enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and a cookie. (Carafs from Common Grounds Coffee)
• Hold and photograph Madagascar hissing cockroaches and a stick insects (walking sticks), and get up close to the  tarantulas, all in the live "petting zoo." There may even be caterpillars on display, according to Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.  They are 3rd instar Antheraea polyphemus larvae, feeding on oak, from West Sacramento. These Polyphemus moths are members of the family Saturniidae, the giant silk moths.

 The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. Founded in 1946 by Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007), and directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis professor of entomology, it is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America; the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity; a live "petting zoo" and a gift shop.

The Bohart Museum's regular hours have changed for the summer season. As of July 3, the insect museum is hosting 30-minute tours starting at 2:30 and 3:30 pm. No reservations are required and all ages are welcome. Admission is free, but donations are always welcomed. The Bohart is open to walk-in visitors Monday through Thursday from 1 to 5 p.m. It is closed from 9 a.m. to noon to walk-in visits (the insect museum conducts many tours and outreach programs during those times). More information on the Bohart Museum is available on the website or by contacting (530) 752-0493 or email bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.

Related Link:

• Moths, Smithsonian Institution