Are you ready to meet awesome "Annie" at the 11th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Sunday, March 6? You won't want to cuddle her, though.

Annie is a pet scorpion belonging to Emma Jochim, a second-year doctoral student n the Jason Bond lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

"She's an Anuroctonus pococki so I call her 'Annie'  for short!" said Jochim. "The common name is 'Californian swollen stinger scorpion' because they have an extra 'bulb' on their telson that most scorpions don't, so I think that's pretty neat about this species. I haven't tried to handle her because she seems pretty aggressive--stinging crickets/roaches as soon as I put them in front of her and attacking water when I pour some in her enclosure."

Jochim's labmate, Xavier Zahnle, found the scorpion while he was collecting millipedes "and brought her back to me so I'm not sure how old she is but I've had her for a year and a half."

Emma holds a bachelor's degree in biology, with a minor in geology and chemistry, from Millsaps College, Jackson, Miss., where she graduated summa cum laude. Her honors thesis: "Species Delimitation of Vaejovis Scorpions from the Santa Catalina Mountains Using Genetic, Morphological, and Geographical Data." While a student at Millsaps College, her outreach activities including sharing her knowledge of tarantulas, scorpions and vinegaroons at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science.

Annie, the scorpion, under ultraviolet light. She is a Anuroctonus pococki. (Photo by Emma Jochim)

The UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day is a free, science-based event that takes place from 11 a..m. to 3 pm. in the UC Davis Conference Center, 550 Alumni Lane. Admission and parking are free, but visitors must adhere to the COVID-19 Campus Ready guidelines. Masks will be required in accordance with campus policies. This year's event is especially geared for undergraduates and other members of the UC Davis community. (See news story)

"Annie" will be just one of the live animals displayed in the Bohart Museum of Entomology/Jason Bond booth in the Conference Center. The Bond section also will include a live trapdoor spider (genus Hebestatis),  a tarantula and millipedes, as well as specimens. 

Doctoral candidate Lacie Newton of the Bond lab is coordinating the arachnid/myriapod section. Jason Bond, her major professor, is the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

"And there will be a small interactive station where people will be able to use props that mimic an insect flying into a web and learn more about the sensory structures that spiders have to detect those vibrations," Newton said.

Specimens that the Bohart Museum will showcase in the Conference Center include the California dogface butterfly and the Asian giant hornet (aka "murder hornet").

Eleven Museums, Collections. Scientists from a total of 11 museums or collections will staff booths in the Conference Center.  Represented will be the Arboretum and Public Garden, UC Davis Bee Haven, Bohart Museum of Entomology, Botanical Conservatory, California Raptor Center, Center for Plant Diversity, Department of Anthropology Museum, Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Nematode Collection, Paleontology Collection, and the Phaff Yeast Culture Collection. Visitors can sign up at the Conference Center for tours of several of the museums or collections. (See news story)

The UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day is traditionally held on the Saturday of Presidents' Day weekend. However, last year's event was virtual, and this year's event is centrally located in an exposition. For more information, access the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day website and/or connect with Instagram,Twitter, and Facebook.

Bohart Fact Sheets on Scorpions. Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, has published two Fact Sheets about scorpions on the Bohart website. 

Scorpions are arachnids, Kimsey writes, "and like all arachnids, they have eight legs, although it looks like ten, and a body divided into two regions, the cephalothorax (the head plus thorax) and the abdomen...The scorpion exoskeleton is different from that of similar groups. Something about it causes scorpions to fluoresce bright blue to green under ultraviolet light. So in the desert its easy to find them at night with a black light."

Kimsey describes scorpions as "nocturnal predators. During the day they hide under stones, logs or boards, or in cracks and holes in the ground. They prey on ground-dwelling insects and other small animals. Scorpions will occasionally wander into homes, particularly in new housing developments. New housing developments often encroach upon the scorpions' normal habitat and as a result these animals will blunder into homes searching for prey and shelter. Within several years, scorpions will no longer live in these areas because of the lack of suitable habitat and prey."

"The majority of California scorpion species average about 2 inches long as adults, however, some exotic species can be as long as 6 inches. Scorpions occur throughout the milder parts of California, including the Sierra foothills and the coastal mountains. Most of the species of scorpions in California pose no more threat to humans than do ordinary bees and wasps."

How long do they live? "Adult scorpions generally live two to three years," Kimsey relates. "They do not begin producing young until they are nearly a year old. Females produce between 20 and 30 live young at a time. Young scorpions are carried on the female's back for the first 5-15 days of life."

Read the two scorpion posts on the Bohart Museum website: one on scorpions in general and the other on sun scorpions. Sun scorpions, or solfugids, are distantly related to both scorpions and spiders. 

If you're a wanna-be entomologist or arachnologist, or just curious about insects and arachnids, you'll love the live animals and specimens that will showcased in the Bohart Museum of Entomology booth at the 11th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day.

The science-based event, free and open to the public, is set for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, March 6 in the UC Davis Conference Center, 555 Alumni Lane.

This year the Biodiversity Museum Day is geared toward the UC Davis community, particularly undergraduates, said Biodiversity Museum Day co-organizer Tabatha Yang, education and public outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology.  Admission and parking are free, but visitors must adhere to the COVID-19 Campus Ready guidelines. Masks will be required in accordance with campus policies. (See news story)

Sharing the Bohart Museum booth in the Conference Center will be the Jason Bond laboratory. Bond is the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

"The arachnid/myriapod section of Biodiversity Museum Day will consist of some live specimens--a tarantula, trapdoor spider, scorpion, and some millipedes, and ethanol preserved specimens of arachnids/myriapods that are pretty common and/or well-known, and a small interactive station where people will be able to use props that mimic an insect flying into a web and learn more about the sensory structures that spiders have to detect those vibration," said doctoral candidate Lacie Newton of the Bond lab, coordinator of the exhibit.

The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, will display specimens of the Asian giant hornet, Vespa mandarinia (nicknamed "the murder hornet" by the news media); and specimens of the state insect, the California dogface butterfly, Zerene eurydice. Kimsey will share her expertise on the Asian giant hornet.  Professor Fran Keller of Folsom Lake College and a Bohart museum scientist, and Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas will discuss the butterfly and its host plant, California false indigo, Amorpha californica. Keller, a UC Davis doctoral alumnus, authored a book, "The Story of the Dogface Butterfly," with illustrations by Kareofelas and Keller.  The duo collaborated on a poster that's for sale in the gift shop.

Visitors to the Conference Center will see displays from 11 museums or collections on campus:

• Arboretum and Public Garden
• UC Davis Bee Haven
• Bohart Museum of Entomology
• Botanical Conservatory
• California Raptor Center 
• Center for Plant Diversity
• Department of Anthropology Museum
• Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
• Nematode Collection
• Paleontology Collection
• Phaff Yeast Culture Collection

Visitors can sign up at the Conference Center for special tours:

• The Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane, has scheduled tours at noon, 1 and 2. The Bohart houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, and also a live "petting zoo" and gift shop. "People will sign up at the Convention Center and be chaperoned over approximately 15 minutes before the hour to the attend their tour," said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. "Tours should last 30 to 45 minutes." Entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera collection, will be discussing butterflies and moths.
  
  
• 

  An Asian giant hornet from Blaine, Wash. This insect, nicknamed "murder hornet," will be discussed at the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day. (Photo by Allan Smith-Pardo, USDA)
  The UC Davis Bee Haven, located on Bee Biology Road, next to the Harry H.Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, west of the central campus, will offer tours at noon and 2. Established in the fall of 2009, the Bee Haven is a half-acre demonstration garden operated by the Department of Entomology and Nematology. "We'll focus on how best to observe and identify bees in the garden, as well as suggested bee plants that grow well in our area with low water," said Christine Casey, academic program management officer of the Bee Haven. 
  
  
• The Arboretum and Public Garden will provide two 30-45 minute tours, "Climate-Ready Tree Project: Texas Tree Trials." Groups will leave the Conference Center at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.  The project mission is to see if trees from west and central Texas will do well in this climate. The project involved collecting seeds, propagating them and planting them in the Arboretum.
  
  
• The Phaff Yeast Culture Collection is planning self-guided tours of the UC Davis Brewery, used for teaching and research, according to Kyria Boundy-Mills, curator, Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Food Science and Technology.
  Different yeast strains are used for different styles of beer. These include ale yeast strains, lager yeast strains, and Belgian beer strains that are hybrids of wild yeasts. UC Davis offers an undergraduate major in food science and technology, with an emphasis on brewing science. Training includes chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, quality assurance, engineering, sanitation, packaging, malting and crewing. The program currently includes 18 students studying for their bachelor of science degrees,  and three students seeking their master of science degrees.
  
  
• The Botanical Conservatory is technically not offering tours, says manager Ernesto Sandoval "but we will be open to the public so people can wander through at their own pace and we'll regulate the number of people in the greenhouse at any one time.  They can see our revamped succulent and carnivore rooms as well as our Cacao, aka  'Chocolate Tree,' with fruits as well as coffee and a very happy vanilla plant all amongst an incredible diversity of plants from ferns to an assortment of orchids."

The UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day is traditionally held on the Saturday of Presidents' Day weekend. However, last year's event was virtual, and this year's event is centrally located. For more information, access the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day website and/or connect with Instagram,Twitter, and Facebook. 

Another upcoming event is the 108th annual UC Davis Picnic Day, a campuswide open house scheduled April 23.

Do you know what a nematode is?

That's a question that nematologists are frequently asked.

Well, just in time for the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month (that would be our month of February!), nematologist Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, answers that very question in his 11-minute YouTube video, https://youtu.be/3fhv-P_O8I8. .

Nematodes are known as "round worms" and most are microscopic, he says in his family friendly, easy-to-understand video. 

"The famous naturalist E. O. Wilson who studies ants notes that 80 of the individual animals living on the earth are nematodes," Nadler says. "They are clearly important to the earth's ecosystems, even if we don't fully understand all the things that they do, and as parasites they affect human health, the health of other animals, and reduce our food production so they're clearly important in that respect." 

You'll want to watch the rest of it.

Nematodes are just one of the topics of videos posted on the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month website.  Others  affiliated with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology focus on butterflies, moths, arachnids, millipedes, and how to collect, preserve and identify insects.

Other videos posted on this site for free, public viewing include:

• "Virtual Tour of the Bohart's Lepidoptera Collection," a 13-minute Aggie Video by Diane Ullman, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. She describes the natural history and ecology of several colorful and toxic species in the Bohart Museum of Entomology. See https://bit.ly/2LHYFzL
  
  
• "Insect Collection, Preservation and Identification," a 15-minute Aggie Video by Steve Heydon, senior museum scientist, Bohart Museum of Entomology. Heydon, the curator and collections manager of the Bohart Museum, gives an overview of how the museum collects, preserves and identifies some of its nearly 8 million specimens. See https://bit.ly/375eXdC
  
  
• "Common Millipedes of the Sacramento-San Francisco Region," a 23-minute YouTube video by Xavier Zahnle, a doctoral student in the lab of Professor Jason Bond lab, the Schlinger Chair in Systematics. Zahnle reviews the major groups of millipedes that are commonly found in the region, the diversity, and what makes them unique. See https://youtu.be/ZMAzm3A95VE
  
  
• "Demonstration of Insect Preparation: Butterflies and Moths," a 9-minute Aggie Video featuring Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. He describes how to pin and spread moths and butterflies. This technique is the most common method that museums and researchers use to display adult Lepidopterans, allowing scientists to identify and study this diverse group of insects. See https://video.ucdavis.edu/media/0_9nymgt3c
  
  
• "All About Arachnids," a 24-minute YouTube video by Lacie Newton, a doctoral student in the lab of Professor Jason Bond lab, the Schlinger Chair in Systematics.  She talks about the diversity of arachnids (spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites etc.) and their unique characteristics. https://youtu.be/FM_ANqARkI0 

Other topics range from the Phaff Yeast Collection, California Raptor Center and the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology to the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. More videos, including one on the diversity of bees by Chris Casey, manager of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's bee garden, the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, are being loaded throughout the month of February. To access all of the pre-recorded videos and activities, click here. To access the schedule of live talks and demonstrations, click here.

About the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month

The 10th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month program is all virtual this year via webinars and pre-recorded presentations. All take place throughout the month of February. The science-based event traditionally occurs on only one day--the Saturday of Presidents' Weekend, when families and friends gather on campus to learn first-hand about the UC Davis museums and collections. 

This year's biodiversity event focuses on 12 museums or collections:

• Anthropology Museum
• Arboretum and Public Garden
• Bohart Museum of Entomology
• Botanical Conservatory
• California Raptor Center
• Center for Plant Diversity
• Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
• Nematode Collection
• Marine Invertebrate Collection 
• Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
• Paleontology Collection
• Phaff Yeast Culture Collection

One of the activities listed in the pre-recorded talks and activities is a 10-page coloring book on plant-insect interactions. It's the work of Molly Barber, Fernanda Guizar, Collin Gross and Jasen Liu of the Santiago Ramirez lab, UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology. Ramirez is a global authority on orchid bees. Download the PDF of the coloring book here. 

To help support the Biodiversity Museum event, contributions are being accepted through a month-long crowdfunding campaign program at https://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/project/24310.  

Chances are you're not thinking about spiders right now, but arachnid experts at the University of California, Davis, are.

Two doctoral students from the Jason Bond laboratory, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, won first- and second-place awards in the student research competitions at the recent meeting of the American Arachnological Society, held at Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.

Rebecca Godwin won first in the poster competition for her research on trapdoor spiders and Lacie Newton won second for her oral presentation on species delimitation.

Congratulations to these dedicated doctoral students!

Godwin titled her work, “Revision of New World Ummidia (Mygalomorphae, Halonoproctidae)”: Her abstract: “Ummidia is a historically taxonomically difficult group of spiders belonging to the infraorder Mygalomorphae, one of the three main lineages recognized within spiders. Mygalomorph life history and their incredibly cryptic appearance make them difficult to identify, as a result they are frequently overlooked by spider systematists. Ummidia Thorell 1875 is a wide-ranging genus of trapdoor spider found both in the Mediterranean region of the Old World and in the New World from the eastern United States south to Brazil. Taxonomic work on New World Ummidia is sparse outside of original descriptions, the most recent of which are over half a century old."

"I am revising the genus Ummidia in the Nearctic region. I have approached this taxonomic problem by examining approximately 700 specimens of Ummidia from various collections (American Museum of Natural History, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Florida State Collection of Arthropods, California Academy of Sciences, and Auburn University Museum of Natural History). Examination of museum material has seemingly confirmed the undescribed diversity of Ummidia; preliminary estimates of New World species ranging between 50 and 60, with particularly high amounts of diversity in the Florida and Virginia. This study, along with many others conducted utilizing museum collections, is indicative of the importance of natural history collections and their usefulness in discovering unknown biodiversity.”

Lacie titled her work, “Species Delimitation of the Antrodiaetus Unicolor Species Complex Using a 3RAD Approach.” Her abstract: “Although species delimitation can be highly contentious, the development of reliable methods to accurately ascertain species boundaries is a fundamental and necessary step in cataloguing and describing Earth's quickly disappearing biodiversity. Species delimitation in spider taxa has historically been based on morphological characters; however, certain mygalomorphs are morphologically indistinguishable from each other yet have considerable molecular divergence."

"Previous research by Hendrixson and Bond (2005) described a new sympatric species Antrodiaetus microunicolor in the A. unicolor species complex using morphological criteria (i.e. size and setal character differences) and behavioral criteria (non-overlapping mating seasons). Subsequently, they used two molecular markers COI and 28S and discovered that A. unicolor is paraphyletic with respect to A. microunicolor. To further delineate this species complex, we implement the cohesion species concept and employ multiple lines of evidence for testing genetic exchangeability and ecological interchangeability. Our integrative approach includes extensively sampling homologous loci across the genome using a version of RADseq called 3RAD, assessing population structure across their geographic range, and evaluating ecological similarity by niche-based distribution modeling. Based on our analyses, we conclude that this species complex has two or three species in addition to A. microunicolor.”

Rebecca Godwin
Godwin holds two degrees from Auburn University: her bachelor's degree in zoology in 2004, and her master's degree in wetland biology in 2011. She began her doctoral studies at Auburn University in 2014, and transferred to UC Davis when Bond accepted the UC Davis position in 2018.

Godwin won the Auburn University's Department of Biological Science's Outstanding Service Award in 2016. She is the lead author of research published in 2018 in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution on “Phylogeny of a Cosmopolitan Family of Morphologically Conserved Trapdoor spiders (Mygalomorphae, Ctenizidae) Using Anchored Hybrid Enrichment, with a Description of the Family, Halonoproctidae Pocock 1901.” She currently serves as a graduate teaching assistant in the course, "Biology 2C," at UC Davis.

Godwin's research interests include taxonomy, systematics, and phylogreography of trapdoor spiders, as well as effective science communication and increasing general science literacy.

Lacie Newton
Newton received her bachelor of science degree from Millsaps College, Jackson, Miss., in 2016, and then joined the Auburn University doctoral program. Like Godwin, she transferred to UC Davis with her major professor in 2018. Newton served as an undergraduate teaching assistant at Millsaps College for “Introduction to Cell Biology” and “General Zoology,” and as a graduate teaching assistant in “Introduction to Biology” at Auburn University.

Newton now serves as a graduate teaching assistant at UC Davis for “Introduction to Biology: Biodiversity and the Tree of Life.” She won the 2019-2020 George H. Vansell Scholarship, UC Davis. Her research interests include systematics, species delimitation, and phylogeography of spiders; phylogenetics; comparative transcriptomics of troglophilic and troglobitic spiders; cave biology and conservation.

Both Godwin and Newton volunteer at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's programs on spiders and at the campuswide UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day.

Bond joined the UC Davis faculty after a seven-year academic career at Auburn University, Ala. He served as professor of biology and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences from January 2016 to July 2018, and as curator of arachnids and myriapods (centipedes, millipedes, and related animals) at the Auburn University Museum of Natural History, from August 2011 to July 2018.