- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Bohart Museum's gift shop includes a variety of gifts, including jewelry, t-shirts, posters, notecards, insect-collecting equipment, and new and used books.
The EGSA is offering its newest line of t-shirts, a design featuring a long-legged wasp (new species!) on a penny-farthing and other favorites, all created by graduate students or undergraduate students affiliated with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Here's what's available at the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 Academic Surge on Crocker Lane.
- Earrings and necklaces (with motifs of bees, dragonflies, moths, butterflies and other insects)
- T--shirts for babies, children and adults (walking sticks, monarch butterflies, beetles, dragonflies, dogface butterflies and the museum logo)
- Insect candy (lollipops with either crickets and scorpions, and chocolate-covered scorpions)
- Insect-themed food, Chapul bars made with cricket flour, and flavored mealworms and crickets
- Insect collecting equipment: bug carriers, nets, pins, boxes, collecting kits
- Plastic insect toys and stuffed animals (mosquito, praying mantis, bed bug and others)
- Handmade redwood insect storage boxes by Bohart Museum associate Jeff Smith
- Posters (Central Valley butterflies, dragonflies of California, dogface butterfly), prints of selected museum specimens
- Books by museum-associated authors:
The Story of the Dogface Butterfly (Fran Keller, Greg Kareofelas and Laine Bauer), Insects and Gardens Insects and Gardens: In Pursuit of a Garden Ecology (Eric Grissell), Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Guide (co-authored by Robbin Thorp), California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (co-authored by Robbin Thorp), Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento Region (Art Shapiro), Butterfly Wish (Steve Stoddard, pen name S.S. Dudley), and multiple dragonfly books by Kathy Biggs. - Notecards of bees and other pollinators by Kathy Keatley Garvey and Mary Foley Benson's wasp and caterpillar art
- Bohart logos (youth t-shirts, stickers and patches
- Used books
- Gift memberships
- Naming of insect species
“I wanted an insect that would be able to put its abdomen on the seat and have long enough legs to reach the pedals,” she said. She solved the dilemma by creating a “new species” of wasp and drawing the majority of votes from faculty, staff and students to win the annual contest. The result: “Hymenoptera on Bicycle.”
“I love the new design and think it translated very well on the t-shirts,” said EGSA treasurer and entomology graduate student Cindy Preto of the Frank Zalom lab. “ I expect it to be a great seller.”
It can be ordered in unisex heather navy with white lettering ($15 for small, medium, large, extra large and 2x); youth navy with white print ($15 for small, medium and large); and women's cut, heather red with light yellow print ($17 for small, medium and large).
The t-shirts from years past, all favorites, include "The Beetles" (reminiscent of The Beatles' Abbey Road album), a weevil (See no weevil, hear no weevil, speak no weevil), a dung beetle, honey bee and comb, and a "wanna bee."
Among the other favorites is "Entomology's Most Wanted." Former graduate students Nicholas Herold and Emily Bzydk featured "bug shots" (a take-off of "mug shots") of the malaria mosquito (Anopheles gambiae), the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) bed bug, (Cimex lecturalius), and the housefly (Musca domestica).
Another gift could be for a beekeeper. Extension apiculturist Elina Niño and staff research associates Bernardo Niño and Charley Nye and graduate student Tricia Bohls are teaching beekeeping classes and those who wish to surprise a beekeeper or a prospective beekeeper with a gift—a workshop—can do so. Check out the list of courses.
The Honey and Pollination Center, directed by Amina Harris, also has a variety of gift items, including notecards and honey. This just in: orange blossom honey. Her email is aharris@ucdavis.edu
And if you want a new insect species named for you, contact the Bohart Museum of Entomology: Lynn Kimsey at lskimsey@ucdavis.edu or Tabatha Yang at tabyang@ucdavis.edu.

- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's a wasp on wheels.
A wasp riding a penny-farthing or a high wheel bicycle is the winner of the 2015 annual t-shirt contest sponsored by the Entomology Graduate Students' Association (EGSA) at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
“I wanted to draw a penny-farthing, which is part of the UC Davis culture,” said artist Stacey Rice, a junior specialist in the lab of Extension entomologist Larry Godfrey. “Then I wanted an insect that would be able to put its abdomen on the seat and have long enough legs to reach the pedals.”
She solved the dilemma by creating a “new species” of wasp and drawing the majority of votes from faculty, staff and students to win the annual contest. The result: “Hymenoptera on Bicycle.”
The t-shirt, now available to the public, went on sale at the Entomological Society of America meeting Nov. 15-18 in Minneapolis.
“I love the new design and think it translated very well on the t-shirts,” said EGSA treasurer and entomology graduate student Cindy Preto of the Frank Zalom lab. “ I expect it to be a great seller.”
In the Godfrey lab, Rice does research on Bagrada bugs (Bagrada hilaris), an invasive stink bug from Africa known for attacking cole crops, including broccoli, cabbage, collards, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, and mustard.
An alumnus of UC Davis, Rice received her bachelor's degree in biological sciences with a minor in veterinary entomology in March 2015. Her goal is to attend graduate school and receive her doctorate, either in integrated pest management or forensic entomology.
She became interested in both fields after enrolling in a “behavioral ecology of insects” course taught by Edwin Lewis, associate dean for agricultural sciences in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and professor and former vice chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Rice, who grew up in Roseville and graduated from Oakmont High School, combines science with art. She enjoys creating ceramic art at the UC Davis Crafts Center.
EGSA has launched an online store where the newly designed t-shirt and other favorites can be ordered. For more information on the T-shirt, contact EGSA member Cindy Preto at crpreto@ucdavis.edu. All proceeds benefit EGSA.
It can be ordered in unisex heather navy with white lettering ($15 for small, medium, large, extra large and 2x); youth navy with white print ($15 for small, medium and large); and women's cut, heather red with light yellow print ($17 for small, medium and large).
Related Link:
EGSA Online Store
