- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Bohart Museum of Entomology's last open house of the 2013-14 academic year will explore the theme, "Arachnids: Awesome or Awful?" on Saturday, July 26 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Bohart Museum is located in Room 1124 of Academic Surge on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus.
Many locally found spiders, include the black widow, jumping spider and cellar spiders--alive and specimens--will be exhibited.
A special attraction is Rosie, a 24-year-old tarantula reared by entomologist/Bohart volunteer Jeff Smith of Sacramento. Visitors are invited to hold it and photograph it.
Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, will be present to talk about insects. He is the co-author of Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide, which is available in the Bohart gift shop. Thorp will be available to sign the books.
Children and/or family activities are also planned, said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator at the Bohart.
The museum's gift shop, open throughout the year (credit-card purchases are accepted), includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, houses the seventh largest insect collection in North America. It is also the home of the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum.
Bohart officials schedule weekend open houses throughout the academic year. The museum's regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The insect museum is closed to the public on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free.
More information is available from Tabatha Yang at tabyang@ucdavis.edu or by telephoning (530) 752-0493.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"We will be celebrating the diversity of moths and making moth-inspired cards in advance of Mother's Day," said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. "We'll have a cloth and light set-up to show people how moths are collected and we will have displays about the differences between moths and butterflies."
Most moths are nocturnal, unlike butterflies, which fly during the day. Moths of all sizes, shapes, colors and patterns will be displayed.
One of the moths displayed may well be one of the smallest moths in the world. Bohart Museum senior museum scientist Steve Heydon was sorting through his collection of unmounted insects from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, central Africa, when he noticed a moth about 1mm long, the size of the period at the end of this sentence.
The moth is a new species, yet to be described, Heydon said. “We don't even know what genus it is. We are guessing it is a Nepticulidae since this family contains the smallest moths. Their caterpillars are leafminers--they actually live between the top and bottom layers of a leaf, eating out the middle.”
“It has a wing span of 2 to 2.5mm,” Heydon said. “Insects that have a wing span of 3mm are considered tiny, but this one is really tiny—the smallest moth anyone ever seems to have found.”
Heydon collected the moth in April of 2006 on an expedition to the village of Kikongo Mission, located about 45 minutes by air east of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He caught the moth on forested land, near a river, in a Malaise trap, a mesh tentlike structure commonly used to trap flying insects such as flies and wasps.
Also at the open house, visitors can hold such live specimens as Madagascar hissing cockroaches, a rose-haired tarantula and walking sticks and browse the gift shop, which includes T-shirts, jewelry, insect nets, posters and books, including the newly published children's book, “The Story of the Dogface Butterfly,” written by UC Davis doctoral candidate Fran Keller and illustrated (watercolor and ink) by Laine Bauer, a 2012 UCD graduate.
The 35-page book, geared toward kindergartners through sixth-graders, also includes photos by naturalist Greg Kareofelas of Davis, a volunteer at the Bohart Museum. The book tells the untold story of the California dogface butterfly (Zerene eurydice), Keller said. Bauer's illustrations depict the life cycle of this butterfly and the children who helped designate it as the California state insect. The net proceeds from the sale of this book go directly to the education, outreach and research programs of the Bohart Museum. The book also can be ordered online.
The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, a professor of entomology at UC Davis, houses a global collection of nearly 8 million insect specimens and is the seventh largest insect collection in North America. It is also the home of the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum.
Bohart officials schedule weekend open houses throughout the academic year. The museum's regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The insect museum is closed to the public on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Garden heroes, that is. That include lady beetles, better known as ladybugs.
“Garden Heroes” will set the theme of the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 2. The event, free and open to the public, will be held in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus.
“This time of year aphids are invading our gardens,” said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator at the Bohart Museum. “Garden heroes, like lady beetles, help us out.”
Other garden heroes include lacewings, bigeyed bugs, assassin bugs, damsel bugs, and soldier beetles. Family activities, including how to make a bee condo for native bees, are planned.
Another key attraction will be a return appearance of the Budding Biologist, (http://www.buddingbiologist.com/about.html), creator of ecology video games. Budding Biologist is an educational publishing company owned by Kristine Callis-Duehl, who is with the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Irvine. This game is loosely based on ecological research being conducted by Louie Yang, assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Walter Hsiao, the video game developer, will be on hand to answer questions about game design.
The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, houses nearly eight million specimens and is the seventh largest insect collection in North America. It is also the home of the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of insect biodiversity. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum in 1946.
The year-around gift shop (also online) offers t-shirts, jewelry, insect nets, posters and books, including the newly published children's book, “The Story of the Dogface Butterfly,” written by UC Davis doctoral candidate Fran Keller and illustrated (watercolor and ink) by Laine Bauer, a 2012 graduate of UC Davis. The 35-page book, geared toward kindergarteners through sixth graders, also includes photos by naturalist Greg Kareofelas of Davis, a volunteer at the Bohart.
The museum is located near the intersection of LaRue Road and Crocker Lane. The museum's regular public hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Group tours can be arranged with Tabatha Yang at tabyang@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0493. The museum is closed to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and UC Davis holidays.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Bohart Museum of Entomology, home of nearly eight million specimens, will “go live” at its first open house of the 2013-14 academic year on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 21.
“Live,” that is, with live insects, such as cabbage white and Gulf Fritillary butterflies, Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, a rose-haired tarantula and a “Harry Potter bug,” which is an amblypygid commonly known as a whip spider or tailless whip scorpion.
Another attraction is a jumping spider, which arrived at the insect museum on a rose bouquet, and has become a permanent resident, Heydon said.
The open house, set from 1 to 4 p.m., is free and open to the public. The museum, affiliated with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is located in Room 1124 of Academic Surge on Crocker Lane, formerly California Drive. The nearest intersection is LaRue Road.
The gift shop, open year around (products are also sold online), includes two new T-shirts, both the work of designer/Ph.D. student Fran Keller and Davis naturalist/Bohart volunteer Greg Kareofelas. In a touch of humor, the female pondhawk has snatched the Bohart logo and taken a bite.
The second T-shirt depicts the California state insect, the California dogface butterfly. The gift shop also includes other clothing, posters, books, jewelry and insect nets. Purchases and donations support the Bohart education outreach programs. Museum staff educate more than 10,000 students about insects each year thanks to the public generosity.
The Sept. 21 open house is one of eight weekend open houses during the 2013-2014 academic year. Other themes include “Beauty and Beetles,” “Snuggle Bugs” and “Arachnids: Awesome or Awful?”
All will be held from 1 to 4 p.m., with two exceptions. The open house on Saturday, Feb. 8 during UC Davis Biodiversity Day will be from noon to 4 p.m. On the campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day, Saturday, April 12, the hours at the Bohart Museum are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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 to the public on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free.
The complete schedule of open houses:
Saturday, Sept. 21
Theme: "Live from the Bohart!"
Hours: 1 to 4 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 23
Theme: "Beauty and Beetles"
Hours: 1 to 4 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 12
Theme: "Snuggle Bugs"
Hours: 1 to 4 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 8
Theme: "Biodiversity Museum Day"
Hours: Noon to 4 p.m.
This event will be held in conjunction with the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Herbarium, Botanical Conservatory, Anthropology Collection and Geology and will take place at each of those locations. (All are free and open to the public.)
Sunday, March 2
Theme: "Garden Heroes!"
Hours: 1 to 4 p.m.
Saturday, April 12:
Theme: “UC Davis Picnic Day: 100 Years”
Hours: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Sunday, May 4
Theme: "Moth-er's Day"
Hours: 1 to 4 p.m.
Saturday, July 26
Theme: "Arachnids: Awesome or Awful?"
Hours: 1 to 4 p.m.
Those who would like to join the Bohart Museum Society, a campus and community support organization dedicated to supporting the mission of the museum, can do so by accessing this page.
“You can help support the museum and its educational programs by becoming a member,” Kimsey said. “The Bohart Museum and the Bohart Museum Society are dedicated to teaching, research and public service. Our current growth is financed by memberships and contributions.” Membership and donations directly support the following programs and activities:
Visiting Scientist Program
Each year, two or three short-term fellowships are awarded to systematists to come and study the museum collections.
High School Student Internships
The Society funds summer internships for high school students to learn about insects, curation, collecting and other aspects of entomology.
Associates Program
This program is designed to give special recognition to society members who donate their time and expertise to improving the museum's collections, or through collecting activities.
Benefits of Membership include a subscription to the Bohart Museum Society quarterly newsletter; invitation to “members only” special events and programs, including the Halloween open house; select member discounts on gift shop merchandise; access to the collections, and free information and identification services from staff; and the use of the museum library of entomological books and periodicals.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Bohart Museum of Entomology’s open house, set from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, June 9, will inform visitors how to find insects via an inside/outside activity that is free and open to the public.
The event will take place in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge building and at the side of the building, located on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. This is the last of the open houses for the 2012-13 academic year.
Visitors can try their hand at catching insects with nets and with pan traps. A pan trap is a colored pan filed with water, to which a drop of dish liquid soap is added to break the surface tension and trap the insects.
Another highlight will be how to rear cabbage white butterflies. Many classroom teachers try to rear monarch butterflies, which are more abundant on the East Coast, as is its host plant, milkweed.
To protect the monarchs, scientists are recommending that cabbage whites be used instead. “They are more abundant, easily obtained and easy to rear,” said Tabatha Yang, the Bohart’s education and outreach coordinator. Teachers can easily demonstrate the life cycle of an insect with the cabbage white, she added. Also, summer is a good time for family project investigations. They can witness the transformation of an egg to a caterpillar to a chrysalis to an adult.
Cabbage whites deposit their eggs singly on a variety of plants, including cabbage, broccoli, kale, cauliflower and mustards.
Free pamphlets will be given to visitors, Yang said.
The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, houses a global collection of nearly eight million insect specimens and is the seventh largest insect collection in North America. It is also the home of the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum in 1946.
Visitors can also hold such live specimens as Madagascar hissing cockroaches and walking sticks. The gift shop includes t-shirts, jewelry, insect nets, posters and books, including the newly published children’s book, “The Story of the Dogface Butterfly,” written by UC Davis doctoral candidate Fran Keller and illustrated (watercolor and ink) by Laine Bauer, a 2012 graduate of UC Davis. The 35-page book, geared toward kindergarteners through sixth graders, also includes photos by naturalist Greg Kareofelas of Davis, a volunteer at the Bohart.
The book tells the untold story of the California dogface butterfly (Zerene eurydice), Keller said. Bauer’s illustrations depict the life cycle of this butterfly and the children who helped designate it as the California state insect.
The net proceeds from the sale of this book go directly to the education, outreach and research programs of the Bohart Museum. The book can also be ordered online.
Bohart officials schedule weekend open houses throughout the academic year so that families and others who cannot attend on the weekdays can do so on the weekends. The Bohart’s regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday. The insect museum is closed to the public on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free.
For further information, contact Yang at tabyang@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0493.