Nov.10, 2011
Ralph Washington talks about the Madagascar hissing cockroaches to Mick,Emme and Molly Dunning of Davis.. (Photos by Kathy Keatley Garvey)DAVIS--Madagascar hissing cockroaches are a big hit at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis campus.
Some visitors like to look at them, others prefer to touch them, and the bravest of the brave delight in holding them—and ask their parents if they can "please, please," keep a couple as pets.
On a recent visit to the Bohart Museum, Bob Dunning of Davis watched his two daughters, Molly, 9, and Emme, 8, and son Mick, 6, check out the hissers.
Molly preferred to just look at them. Emme and Mick wanted to hold them. Emme especially delighted in them and let them crawl up her back. “Future entomologists!” bystanders said.
Next Bohart Open House: 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 19. Theme: Thankful for Bugs! Bohart volunteer Ralph Washington, who received his bachelor’s degree in entomology from UC Davis, told them that the cockroaches are native to Madagascar of the African coast. The Madagascar hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa) is one of the largest cockroach species and can reach two to four inches in length.
Emme Dunning with a Madagascar hissing cockroach.“They’re like goodwill ambassadors to the Bohart and the cockroach family,” said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach director, who estimated the museum holds about 40 to 50 Madagascar hissing cockroaches at any given time.
“Some visitors think of them as big beetles, and when we tell them they’re cockroaches sometimes they get a little concerned," she said. "They’re thinking of the pest species.”
An added attraction is that Madagascar hissing cockroaches, aka “hissers,” make a noise—they hiss.
“They hiss for a variety of reasons,” Yang said. “The males hiss at each other over territory and they hiss to attract females. When we pick them up, they do an ‘alarm hiss’ so we will leave them alone and put them down.”
Sometimes they’re so used to being handled that they don’t readily hiss. That’s when the museum staffers raid the personal collection of entomology graduate student Emily Bzdyk, who keeps some in her Bohart office.
Mick Dunning admires a Madagascar hissing cockroach.The museum, located at 1124 Academic Surge on California Drive, is the home of seven million insect specimens. In addition to Madagascar hissing cockroaches, the “live petting zoo” includes walking sticks and rose-haired tarantulas.
Museum director Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, plans her next weekend open house on Saturday, Nov. 19 from 1 to 4. The theme: “Thankful for Bugs.”
The R. M. Bohart Museum of Entomology, founded in 1946 by noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) is dedicated to teaching, research and service. The museum houses the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and is also the home of the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity.
The Bohart's regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday. It is closed on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free.
More information is available on the Bohart website at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu/ or by contacting Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator attabyang@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0493. Due to limited space, group tours will not be booked during the weekend hours.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Nov.10, 2011
Professional bee wrangler Norman Gary. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)DAVIS--Apiculturist Norman Gary, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, and a professional bee wrangler, worked behind the scenes in a new Animal Planet program, “My Extreme Animal Phobia,” scheduled to be broadcast Friday, Nov. 11 at 10 p.m. on the Animal Planet Channel (Sacramento area listing).
“It is a story about a man who is extremely afraid of bees,” Gary said. “He is treated successfully by various exposures to bees and consultation with Sacramento psychologist Robin Zazio.”
Although Gary played a central role in the treatment of the man’s phobia, he may or may not appear in the program.
But the bees he trained will.
Some of the filming was done at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis. Staff research associate Elizabeth Frost provided a bee observation hive. The producers also asked to use some macro photos of honey bees taken by communications specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey. They were shown to the man with from the phobia.
Consult local TV Guide listings for detailed information. According to TV Guide, the program will be repeated on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 5 a.m. and on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 10 p.m. See schedule.
Gary also did bee wrangling for another episode of Fear Factor, which enters a new season in December.
Gary is the author of a newly published book on beginning beekeeping titled “Honey Bee Hobbyist: The Care and Keeping of Bees.”
“Keeping bees is far more challenging than caring for common pets,” said Gary, who retired in 1994 from UC Davis after a 32-year academic career.
Gary trains bees to perform action scenes in movies, television shows and commercials. His credits over the last 35 years include 18 films, including “Fried Green Tomatoes”; more than 70 television shows, including the Johnny Carson and Jay Leno shows; six commercials, and hundreds of live Thriller Bee Shows in the Western states.
He once trained bees to fly into his mouth to collect food from a small sponge saturated with his patented artificial nectar. He holds the Guinness World record (109 bees inside his closed mouth for 10 seconds) for the stunt.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Nov.10, 2011
Honey bee researcher/apiculturist Brian Johnson has joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty. One of his bee observation hives at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility is inDAVIS--Brian Johnson, Eric Mussen and Susan Cobey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology will be among the speakers at the California State Beekeepers’ Association (CSBA) 2011 conference, set Monday, Nov. 14, through Thursday, Nov. 17 in Rohnert Park.
The annual convention will be held in the Sonoma/Wine Country Doubletree Inn. The first day, Monday, Nov. 14, will include tours and a president's reception. The next three days are devoted to the program..
Johnson, who joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology last summer, will be introduced at the 9 a.m. session on Tuesday, Nov. 15. On Wednesday, Nov. 16, he will speak at 11:15 a.m. on “Plans for UC Davis Bee Research Program.” Johnson specializes in behavior, evolution, and genetics of honey bees, and apiculture. (See lab research)
As a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Johnson worked with Neil Tsutsui of the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management (ESPM) from 2009 until this spring. Earlier, from 2006 to 2009, he served as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at UC San Diego and the University of Bristol, UK.
Johnson received his doctorate in 2004 from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. in behavioral biology (thesis: “Organization of Work in the Honey Bee”). He obtained his bachelor’s degree in 1998 from the UC San Diego, where he majored in ecology, behavior and evolution.
Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen, a member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty since 1976, will speak on “The State of California Beekeeping” at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. He will also discuss on “Swarm Prevention” at 8:45 a.m. on Wednesday. Mussen conducts a varied program focused mainly on his role as liaison between the academic world of apiculture and real world beekeeping and crop pollination.
Bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, who shares a dual appointment with the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis and Washington State University, will discuss “How to Raise Queens” at 8 a.m. on Wednesday.
Cobey’s research focuses on identifying, selecting and enhancing honey bee stocks that show increasing levels of resistance to pests and diseases. Cobey developed the New World Carniolan stock, a dark, winter hardy race of honey bees, in the early 1980s by back-crossing stocks collected from throughout the United States and Canada to create a more pure strain. Stock imported from the German Carnica Association has recently been added to enhance this breeding program. In collaborations with Steve Sheppard of WSU, they are importing honey bee germplasm to increase genetic diversity in the U.S. honey bee gene pool. In addition, stock from the Republic of Georgia has been imported to re-establish the subspecies Apis mellifera caucasica, another dark race of bee that is not currently recognizable in the U.S.
The CSBA, organized in 1889, is headed by president Frank Pendell, Stonyford; vice president Bryan Ashurst, Westmorland; secretary-treasurer Carlen Jupe, Salida; and past president Roger Everett of Porterville.
It lists its purpose as “to educate the public about the beneficial aspects of honey bees, advance research beneficial to beekeeping practices, provide a forum for cooperation among beekeepers, and to support the economic and political viability of the beekeeping industry.”
More information is on the CSBA website.
Related links:
About Brian Johnson ~ lab research
About Eric Mussen
About Susan Cobey
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Oct. 20, 2011
CulexDAVIS-- Mark your calendar.
It will soon be "Blood Bugs" at the Bohart.
That's the theme of the pre-Halloween open house at the Bohart Museum of Entomology on Sunday, Oct. 30 from 1 to 4 p.m.
The event is open to the public; there's no admission. Halloween costumes are encouraged, said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
One of the highlights will be an insect costume contest. A prize will be awarded to the "best dressed insect" under 6; ages 7-12, 13 to 18, and adults. Judging will be based on creativity and originality, Yang said.
In addition, a prize will be awarded to the best overall insect tattoo.
Another special event is the 3:15 p.m. mosquito pinata bashing. The pinata, created by Brittany Nelms, will be filled with candy and some insect toys. The mosquito likeness is anatomically correct, Yang said. Nelms is a PhD student within the Entomology Graduate Group with a designated emphasis in Vectorborne Diseases (she studies with major professor William Reisen of the Center for Vectorborne Diseases (CVEC) .
Among the "blood bugs" on display will be mosquito, bed bug and biting fly specimens. (Not to worry--they're specimens; they're not alive.)
Located at 1124 Academic Surge on California Drive, the Bohart Museum houses a global collection of more than seven million insect specimens and also maintains a live “petting zoo” with such residents as Madagascar hissing cockroaches and walking sticks.
The Bohart Museum launched its series of weekend openings for the fall season on Saturday, Sept. 24 with “Catch, Collect and Curate: Entomology 101.”
Insect tattoo contest will be one of the events at the pre-Halloween open house at the Bohart Museum on Sunday, Oct. 30 from 1 to 4 p.m.. This beautiful butterfly belongs to Lisa Jurado of the DepartmThe remaining schedule:
Sunday, Oct. 30, 1 to 4 p.m., “Blood Bugs”
Saturday, Nov. 19, 1 to 4 p.m., “Thankful for the Bugs”
Sunday, Dec. 18, 1 to 4 p.m., “Insects in a Winter Wonderland”
Saturday, Jan. 14, 1 to 4 p.m.: “A New Year, a New Bug, How Insects Are Discovered”
Sunday, Feb. 12, 1 to 4 p.m., “Bug Lovin’”
Saturday, March 10, 1 to 4 p.m., “Hide ‘n’ Seek: Insect Camouflage”
Saturday, April 21: 10 to 3 p.m., UC Davis Picnic Day
Saturday, May 12, 1 to 4 p.m., “Pre-Moth’ers Day”
Sunday, June 3, 1 to 4 p.m., “Bug Light, Bug Bright…First Bug I See Tonight.”
The R. M. Bohart Museum of Entomology, founded in 1946 by noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) is dedicated to teaching, research and service. The museum houses the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and is also the home of the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity.
The museum’s regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday. It is closed on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free.
More information is available on the Bohart website at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu/ or by contacting Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator at tabyang@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0493. Due to limited space, group tours will not be booked during the weekend hours.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Oct. 20, 2011
Alex Wild (Photo by Jo-Anne Holley)Alex Wild blog, Myrmecos
Alex Wild PhotographyDAVIS--One of the nation’s best known and talented insect photographers will speak Wednesday, Oct. 26 at the University of California, Davis.
Illinois-based Alex Wild, an evolutionary biologist turned full-time science photographer, will speak on “How to Take Better Insect Photographs” from 12:10 to 1 p.m., in 122 Briggs Hall in a seminar sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
Wild received his doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 2005, studying with ant specialist Phil Ward, professor of entomology. His visual explorations of insect natural history appear in numerous magazines and textbooks, on websites, and in museum exhibits.
Wild also runs photography workshops, teaches entomology and beekeeping at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and blogs for Scientific American.
His work has been showcased in the New York Times, National Geographic and Scientific American, among others.
"Lasioglossum"I am aiming this talk specifically at graduate students," Wild writes on his blog, Myrmecos, derived from the ancient Greek word for ant). "Because scientists use images in many applications--from lab websites to posters and presentations--and because cameras are so available and inexpensive, I think basic photography should be as much a part of academic training as learning to assemble a poster or a conference talk. Thus, 50 minutes on simple tips for taking better photos.”
"I do hope those of you within easy travel distance can attend," he adds.
Wild has assisted Phil Ward with Entomology 109: the Insect Taxonomy and Field Ecology course, aka (Bug Boot Camp), held every other year at the Sagehen Creek Field Station, on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Nevada County. Wild last served as a teacher's assistant in 2002. (See photos)
Entomology professor James R. Carey plans to webcast the lecture for showing on UCTV.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
