- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
What a night--both inside and outside the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis on Saturday, July 21.
While moths and other insects fluttered to the blacklighting display, visitors flocked inside the museum to see the specimens, and engage one-on-one with scientists.
The UC Davis event was the first in a series of summer weekend programs. In fact, "Moth Night" is the only Bohart Museum public event held at night; it takes place annually in conjunction with National Moth Week, a celebration of the beauty, life cycles and habitats of moths. (See yesterday's Bug Squad blog on blacklighting and the moth families recorded by "Moth Man" John DeBenedictis.)
Inside the Bohart Museum last Saturday, retired entomologist Norm Smith, who received his doctorate at UC Davis studying with major professor Richard Bohart (for whom the museum is named) fielded questions about moths and field collecting, as did senior museum scientist Steve Heydon, and Bohart Museum associates Jeff Smith (who curates the butterfly and moth section) of Rocklin; Greg Kareofelas of Davis, naturalist and insect photographer; entomologist Fran Keller, assistant professor at Folsom Lake College (she holds a doctorate in entomology from UC Davis) and entomologist and college student Noah Crockette of Sacramento.
Among the specimen attractions was the white witch moth (Thysania agrippina), which at 11 inches, holds the record for largest wingspan in insects. The caterpillar of this moth can reach 7 inches long. The species is found in Mexico and Central and South America.
Moths are among the most diverse and successful organisms on earth. Scientists estimate there are 150,000 to more than 500,000 moth species. Most are nocturnal.
Visitors enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate. Common Grounds, a Davis coffee shop, provided the large containers of hot water, said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. The family craft activity involved decorating wax candles with moth and butterfly replicas.
Meanwhile, Bohart officials are gearing up for the two remaining summer programs, which are free, open to the public, and family friendly:
- "Fire and Ice: Extreme California Insects," set from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 19.
- "Crafty Insects," set from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 22.
The Bohart Museum is located in held Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane. Directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, the museum houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. In addition to the petting zoo, the museum features a year-around gift shop, which is stocked with 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. It 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 on the website or by contacting (530) 752-0493 or emailing bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Well, not quite, but you can buy a shirt off their rack!
The Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, has discounted all of its bug-themed t-shirts in its year-around gift shop.
"All t-shirts are on sale for $10 each," said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and professor of entomology at UC Davis. "We're clearing our stock this month."
You'll find t-shirts featuring monarch butterflies, California dogface butterflies, dragonflies, lady beetles (aka lady bugs), rhinocerous beetles and stick insects (walking sticks), to name a few. The sizes range from infants to youth to adults. The dogface butterfly, Zerene eurydice, is the California state insect.
"They're all $10," Kimsey said. The Bohart Museum accepts credit cards. The sale ends in May.
And speaking of the dogface butterfly, you can also purchase a poster and a book in the gift shop. Bohart associates Greg Kareofelas and Fran Keller and former UC Davis student Laine Bauer, teamed to publish a 35-page children's book, The Story of the Dogface Butterfly. The trio visited the Auburn site for their research, and Kareofelas also reared and photographed a dogface butterfly at his home in Davis. The author, Fran Keller, an entomologist who received her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis, studying with major professor Kimsey, is now an assistant professor at Folsom Lake College. Both Kareofelas provided photos for the book, and Bauer, the drawings, including depictions of the life cycle of the butterfly reared by Kareofelas.
The dogface butterfly poster is the work of Kareofelas and Keller.
The Bohart Museum of Entomology is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. A world-renowned insect museum, it houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It also maintains a live “petting zoo,” featuring walking sticks, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, praying mantids, and tarantulas. A gift shop, open year around, offers 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.
For more information, contact the bmuseum@ucdavis.edu or (530) 753-0493 access the website or Facebook page.
Take a look at the group photo below. Can you spot the praying mantis? Can you see a silkworm moth caterpillar? They're there. And also in a larger format.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Of course you do!
The Bohart Museum of Entomology is hosting an open house, themed "Parasitoid Palooza," from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 18 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. It's free and open to the public and family friendly.
First of all, what's a parasitoid?
"An insect parasitoid is a species whose immatures live off of an insect host, often eating it from the inside out," says Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum. "It is part of their life cycle and the host generally dies."
What's a nematode?
In one word, "worms."
“Nematodes are an amazing phylum of organisms--they exist in almost every known environment on the planet, and different species eat everything from bacteria and fungi to plant and animal tissue," says nematode authority Lauren Camp, diagnostic parasitologist at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. She will be at the open house to display specimens and answer questions.
"I find parasites particularly fascinating, because they are dependent on another organism (or organisms) for part or all of their life cycle," says Camp, who received her doctorate from the UC Davis, studying with nematologist Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Jewel wasps?
They're a group of tiny parasitoids, says Bohart Museum senior museum scientist Steve Heydon, a world authority on Pteromalids. There are some 3,450 described species of Pteromalids. They're found throughout the world and in virtually all habitats. Many are important as biological control agents.
They are "a remarkable group of endoparasitoids of spiders" and members of the family Acroceridae, says Jessica Gillung, a PhD student at UC Davis who studies with major professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and UC Davis professor of entomology. "They are rare and elusive flies lay the eggs on the ground or vegetation, and the little larva is in charge of finding itself a suitable host. Upon finding the host, the larva enters its body and feeds inside until it's mature to come outside and pupate. They eat everything from the spider; nothing is wasted."
Tachinid flies?
These parasitoids will be on display, along with the remains of its caterpillar hosts. The fly is used as a biological control agent for some pests. But those who rear monarch butterflies consider it their enemy when these flies parasitize caterpillars and chrysalids.
The family craft activity will be pop-up cards, said Yang. Participants will craft cards with a monarch on the front, and a pop-up inside of a parasitoid.
The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. Special attractions include a “live” petting zoo, featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, praying mantids and tarantulas. Visitors are invited to hold some of the insects and photograph them.
The museum's gift shop, open year around, includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
The Bohart Museum holds special open houses throughout the academic year. Its 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 contacting (530) 752-0493 or emailing bmuseum@ucdavis.edu or Tabatha Yang at tabyang@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
You notice an egg on your milkweed plant, and watch its life cycle from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis. Aha, you think, soon I'll be able to see an adult monarch eclose from that chrysalis.
Not so fast.
If a tachinid fly lays eggs in that caterpillar or chrysalis, you'll get several tachinid flies, not a monarch. The fly larvae will eat the host--the caterpillar or chrysalis--from the inside out.
The tachinid fly is a parasitoid, and you can learn all about this parasitoid and many others at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house, Parasitoid Palooza, set from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 18 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, UC Davis campus. It's free and open to the public and family friendly. A family craft activity is planned.
What's a parasitoid?
"An insect parasitoid is a species whose immatures live off of an insect host, often eating it from the inside out," said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. "It is part of their life cycle and the host generally dies."
Among the presentations or topics:
- Bohart Museum senior museum scientist Steve Heydon, a world authority on Pteromalids, or jewel wasps, a group of tiny parasitoids.
- Entomology PhD student Jessica Gillung who researches the Acroceridae family "a remarkable group of endoparasitoids of spiders."
- Family craft activity is a pop-up card, featuring a monarch chrysalis and a fly, suitable for mailing to friends and family during the holiday season.
There are some 3,450 described species of Pteromalids, found throughout the world and in virtually all habitats. Many are important as biological control agents.
Members of the Acroceridae are "rare and elusive flies lay the eggs on the ground or vegetation, and the little larva is in charge of finding itself a suitable host," Gillung said. "Upon finding the host, the larva enters its body and feeds inside until it's mature to come outside and pupate. They eat everything from the spider; nothing is wasted."
Her dissertation involves "the evolution and systematics of Acroceridae, focusing on understanding host usage patterns and trends in morphological variation."
Tachinid flies, which lay their eggs in caterpillars and chrysalids, will be on display, along with the remains of its hosts. It is used as a biological control agent for some pests. But those who rear monarch butterflies consider it their enemy when it lays eggs in their caterpillars and chrysalids.
The late UC Davis entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) researched Strepsiptera, or twisted-wing parasites, for his doctorate in 1938. Both the Bohart Museum and an entire family of Strepsiptera, the Bohartillidae, are named in honor of Professor Bohart.
The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity.
Special attractions include a “live” petting zoo, featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, praying mantids and tarantulas. Visitors are invited to hold some of the insects and photograph them. The museum's gift shop, open year around, includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
The Bohart Museum holds special open houses throughout the academic year. Its 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 contacting (530) 752-0493 or emailing bmuseum@ucdavis.edu or Tabatha Yang at tabyang@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Sure, they're known for donning butterfly, bee, and black widow spider costumes.
But sometimes they opt to characterize a scarecrow, a rag doll, a police officer, a pirate, Bernie Sanders and a hot dog. Or dress in a ghillie suit.
As a carved pumpkin spilled its guts, the costumes at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's Halloween party in the Academic Surge Building on Friday night, Oct. 27 startled, spooked and scared many of the Halloween celebrants.
However, not the costume of Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. She slipped on her lab coat. Quick and easy.
Bohart Museum research entomologist Tom Zavortink portrayed Bernie Sanders, complete with a dark suit and tie and a name tag that read simply: "Bernie."
Bohart senior museum scientist Steve Heydon and his wife, Anita, chose to be a scarecrow and a black widow spider, respectively.
Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology Department faculty, wore a ghillie suit. Last year he carried a duck on his shoulder, an invited guest. This year he came duckless.
Students Parras McGrath posed as a tarantula hawk, Jamie Fong as a hot dog, Keely Davies as a police officer, Gabriela Rivera as a ragdoll, and Diego Rivera as a pirate with a faux parrot perched on his shoulder.
Staffer Tabatha Yang, the Bohart's outreach and public education coordinator, came as a "staff infection" with an appropriate mark on her cheek.
Shark teeth showed up, too. For the occasion, UC Davis entomologist alumnus (and artist) Danielle Wishon of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, detailed her face with gleaming predatory teeth, straight out of Jaws.
Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas, a dragonfly and butterfly expert, came as himself. "What are you supposed to be?" we inquired. "I'm Greg!" he said.
The attendees exchanged greetings, enjoyed food (catered by entomologists Ivana Li and Corwin Parker), dipped marshmallows, fruit and pretzels into a chocolate fountain, and broke a pinata. (See previous Bug Squad). They listened to a trio of musicians performing in front of the gift shop: James Heydon on guitar, Maia Lundy, vocals; and Maia's sister, Jade Lundy, on violin. Later Andre Poon, framed by a harp, entertained on the violin.
That's what entomologists do.
When Lynn Kimsey cut a chocolate anniversary cake, the predators, the prey, the police officer, the scarecrow, the hot dog and Bernie--and all the others--stepped forward.
You can have your cake and eat it, too, no matter if you're prey or predator or something else.
