- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
And there are more of them to like than you think!
About a million described species of insects inhabit our planet. That's about 80 percent of the world's species, scientists say.
"Most authorities agree that there are more insect species that have not been described (named by science) than there are insect species that have been previously named," according to the Smithsonian. "Conservative estimates suggest that this figure is 2 million, but estimates extend to 30 million. In the last decade, much attention has been given to the entomofauna that exists in the canopies of tropical forests of the world. From studies conducted by Terry Erwin of the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Entomology in Latin American forest canopies, the number of living species of insects has been estimated to be 30 million. Insects also probably have the largest biomass of the terrestrial animals. At any time, it is estimated that there are some 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) individual insects alive."
Which brings us to this news: The Bohart Museum of Entomology gift shop at the University of California, Davis, just received a shipment of new bug pins. Bug enthusiasts can not only TALK about bugs but WEAR them. And having a bug pin on your clothing is a definite conversation starter. (Not an ender)
Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart, said the pins include:
- White-lined sphinx moth
- Autumn darter
- Emerald ash borer
- Fly
- Yellow Garden Argiope Spider
- Zombie ant
Open on Wednesday, Dec. 18. The Bohart Museum gift shop is open Wednesday, Dec. 18 from 1 to 4:30 p.m., and then the museum will be closed for the winter holidays, through Jan. 4. "Otherwise, people can start thinking about which of their loved ones would want a rainbow fly with glow-in-the-dark wings or a "zombie ant. pin for Valentine's Day," Yang commented.
The back of the card identifies each species. Among them: an ant, cockroach, leafhopper, domestic silk moth, a thick-legged hoverfly, and a twisted-wing parasite. Inside are holiday greetings in eight languages. The card is also perfect as a coloring page. The cards are $4 each or $5 for 15 in the gift shop.
"I got the idea to have a winter-themed card not tied to any specific holiday and since 'Jerry' refers to a pond skater (Gerridae), I thought the idea of an ice skating pond race was fun, filled with long-legged bugs plus an ice crawler (Grylloblattiae)," Chew said.
The Bohart Museum, home of eight million insect specimens, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. Director is Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the Department of Entomology and Nematology and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The museum also includes a live petting zoo.
The next open house, free and family friendly, takes place Saturday, Jan. 11, from 1 to 4 p.m. More information is available from the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu/pr by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.--Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863), 'The Night Before Christmas'
What will be in your Christmas stocking?
Stocking stuffers are usually tiny, fun, or meaningful gifts or something that makes you feel special. For a child, the "stuffings" are often a toy, book, stickers, crayons, pencils, coins, fruit and candy. Adults may receive that coveted piece of jewelry, lottery tickets, a book or cash. Or gag gifts guaranteeing a smile or a laugh.
How about a bed bug, fruit fly, tick or louse in your Christmas stocking?
Santa's helpers who visit the Bohart Museum of Entomology gift shop will have a field day selecting plush toy animals for bug enthusiasts.
UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum, especially likes the yellow bookworm, (Anobium punctatum).
Ticks (Ixodes scapularis), bed bugs (Cimex lectularius), louse (Pediculus capitis), black ants (Lasius niger), fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) are popular. The crab louse (Pthirus pubis)? Maybe not so much.
These critters are crafted by Giant Microbes, headquartered in Stamford, Conn.
Proceeds benefit the Bohart mission "of documenting and supporting research in biodiversity, educating and inspiring others about insects, and providing state-of-the-art information to the community," Kimsey says.
Home of a global collection of nearly eight million insect specimens, the Bohart Museum houses the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity of the state's deserts, mountains, coast, and the Great Central Valley. It maintains one of the world's largest collections of tardigrades. It also houses a live "petting zoo" that includes Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas.
The Bohart is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. It is open to the public Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m. (holiday hours remain the same this week).
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Yes, he does.
The jolly ol' gent wants to assure that no one has a "silent night," not with all the insect-themed gifts there: jewelry such as bee and monarch pins and beetle wing earrings; books for children and adults; note cards; T-shirts and hoodies; stuffed toy animals; posters showcasing dragonflies and California state insect, the dogface butterfly, coffee cups with the dogface butterfly motif; stickers; insect snacks; and hand-turned lathed pens by entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart.
One of the children's books is "The Story of the Dogface Butterfly," authored in 2013 by entomologist Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College, a Bohart Museum research scientist, and a UC Davis doctoral alumna.
Found only in California, the rarely seen butterfly is also known as (1) "the flying pansy," referring to the male's spectacular black and yellow coloring, and (2) as a "dog head" butterfly (the markings on the male resemble a silhouette of a dog's head). The female is mostly solid yellow. The butterfly's major breeding ground is in Auburn in the Shutamul Bear River Preserve maintained by the Placer Land Trust (PLT).
The insect museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, is open to the public from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday (except on holidays). It will be closed for the winter break from Dec. 23 to Jan. 1.
The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens. It is also the home of a live petting zoo, which includes Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects (aka walking sticks) and tarantulas.
UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, a UC Davis doctoral alumna, has directed the Bohart Museum since 1990. Her major professor, Richard Bohart (1913-2007) founded the insect museum in 1946.
For more information contact, the Bohart Museum at bmuseum@ucdavis.edu or access its website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That's the theme of the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house when the scientists and associates greet visitors during the 109th annual campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 15.
The Bohart will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The location: Room 1124 of the Academic Surge building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus.
The Bohart Museum, the seventh largest insect collection in North America, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens. Plus, it features a live "petting zoo" of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects (walking sticks), tarantulas and many more. You'll meet Princess Herbert, a Brazilian salmon-pink bird-eating tarantula; Peaches, a Chilean rose hair tarantula; CocoMcFluffin, aChaco golden knee tarantula; and a Vietnamese centipede named Beatrice. Research associate Brittany Kohler serves as "the zookeeper."
The Bohart Museum also provides an insect-theme gift shop, stocked with books, posters, jewelry, t-shirts, hoodies and collecting equipment.
The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946 by the late professor Richard Bohart, is directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, who received her doctorate in 1976 from UC Davis, studying with Bohart.
Entomological activities at Briggs Hall will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (See Bug Squad)
Here's a video created by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences that offers a quick look at the Bohart.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ironically, some folks proclaim their hatred or disgust for all things spiders throughout the year, but when the Halloween season arrives, they're thinking webs, fangs and eight legs as perfect decor for their door.
And to scare the bejeezus out of trick-or-treaters, the postal employee (who goes postal), cousins (who become distant) and other folks approaching the front porch who wish they hadn't.
So, it's good to see the Bohart Museum of Entomology come up with a "Got Legs?" spider t-shirt in its gift shop this week. It's a trapdoor spider, or what arachnologist Jason Bond of UC Davis studies. Bond is the associate dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. In June, 2022, he co-hosted the American Arachnological Society's "Eight-Legged Encounters" conference at UC Davis. The focus on spiders also included a Bohart Museum's open house, "Eight-Legged Wonders!"
"We designed it together and Francisco did the art," Keller said.
"I think it's fantastic," said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology. "I haven't seen any other t-shirts featuring spiders like this."
The gift shop offers the spider t-shirt in both youth and adult sizes. The youth t-shirt glows in the dark.
The Bohart Museum, founded in 1946, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. 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. The insect-themed gift shop, stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, books, posters, jewelry, insect-collecting equipment and more, is open year-around and is also online.
Now back to spiders. We remember asking Professor Bond five good reasons why folks should like spiders. (See Bug Squad blog)
- Spiders consume 400-800 million tons of prey, mostly insects, each year. Humans consume somewhere around 400 million tons of meat and fish each year.
- Spider silk is one of the strongest naturally occurring materials. Spider silk is stronger than steel, stronger and more stretchy than Kevlar; a pencil thick strand of spider silk could be used to stop a Boeing 747 in flight.
- Some spiders are incredibly fast – able to run up to 70 body lengths per second (10X faster than Usain Bolt).
- Athough nearly all 47,000-plus spider species have venom used to kill their insect prey, very few actually have venom that is harmful to humans.
- Some spiders are really good parents –wolf spider moms carry their young on their backs until they are ready to strike out on their own; female trapdoor spiders keep their broods safe inside their burrows often longer than one year, and some female jumping spiders even nurse their spiderlings with a protein rich substance comparable to milk.
Spiders rock! And yes, they got legs...
Eight. Of. Them.
