- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It was the first special event of the fall season.
Scientists answered questions about such wasps as the Asian giant hornet (aka "murder hornets"), pteromalids, and fig wasps and also fielded questions about other insects, including butterflies, moths, beetles, cockroaches, and Jerusalem crickets.
The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. It houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens. It also is home to a live “petting zoo,” comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas; and an insect-themed gift shop, which includes t-shirts, sweatshirts, jewelry, books, posters and other items. The gift shop is open all year-around and is also online.
The Bohart Museum is open to the public Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m., except holidays. (See schedule). More information is available on the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
Upcoming special events, all free and family friendly:
Saturday, Oct. 15, 1 to 4 p.m.
Insects, Art & Culture
Visitors will learn about insects through the lenses of art and culture. This event is part of Spirit Week (Oct. 10-16) for Aggie students, parents and alumni, but all are welcome.
Saturday, Oct. 15, 11 a.m. to 11:50 a.m.
Special Talk: Plants, Insects and Art: Mary Foley Benson's Scientific Illustrations
Location: Teaching and Learning Complex (TLC) Building, 482 Hutchison Drive, UC Davis campus
This event is part of Spirit Week for Aggie students, parents and alumni, but all are welcome. Srdan Tunic, a candidate for a master's degree in art history and a Bohart associate, will be highlighting the scientific illustrations of Mary Foley Benson (1905-1992), formerly of the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Entomology and the Smithsonian Institution and who later worked for UC Davis entomologists. Much of her work appears on campus. (See research story on the artist by Malcolm Furniss)
Sunday, Nov. 6, 1 to 4 p.m.
Dragonflies Rule!
Dragonflies are described as "the ultimate predator both in the water and the air." Visitors will meet scientists and natural historians who will share information on the world of dragonflies.
Several activities are featured on the daily (Monday through Friday) Bug Squad blog:
- How Do You Say 'Insect' in the Turkish Language?
- It Took Gall to Make a Ghost
- Learning About Wasps and Other Insects
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It was like a moth to a flame--or 400 moths to a flame--when a record crowd surged into the Bohart Museum of Entomology Moth Night for its July 30th open house.
After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic, "how great it was to have the doors open again for the public," said entomologist Jeff Smith, curator of the lepidoptera collection.
The 400-member crowd, thought to be the largest crowd at the Bohart, other than at UC Davis Picnic Day, was there to learn more about moths, draw images of moths on the sidewalks, enjoy an evening of camaraderie, and head outside to watch moths and other insects fly onto the hanging white sheet, part of the blacklighting demonstration display.
“People could draw whatever they wanted on chalk (outside the Academic Surge Building), but there were a lot of moths, although my kids went rogue and drew a soccer field and a figure,” said Tabatha Yang, the Bohart Museum education and outreach coordinator.
“We ran out of hot water, for the hot cocoa packets, and cookies half-way through!" Yand said, quipping "I thought we would be eating left over chocolate chip cookies at the Bohart all week, but alas that is not the case.”
The blacklighting display (white hanging sheet, ultraviolet light, and a generator) served as a demonstration site. "We had a few small beetles and a few small moths come in," Yang said.
The open house, which drew visitors from as far away as Alameda, took place the weekend before UC Davis summer sessions, so “the popularity among the college set was perhaps because of that, she said. "People were free from studying their required courses and so, on their own, they decided to seek out and learn about moths!”
Kareofelas fielded scores of questions about the Polyphemus moth, Antheraea polyphemus. “They are currently making their appearance in Davis, so a number of folks have seen them and had photos on their phones," he said. "A number of folks came with the desire to see a specific moth, and if we were lucky, it was located in the aisle we had open. Jeff (Smith) had pulled the drawers, from other aisles, with a number of specific species and had them labeled--a lot of questions about these drawers.”
"Some wanted to see the hummingbird moth, so I got to show Hyles lineata to a number of folks," Kareofelas said. "We had a lot of just plain 'good ol' interest' in seeing something and learning something about moths. The night started with a bang and went right to 11:00, still busy!"
"I was surprised at how popular the event was, how busy the store was, and how many folks showed up," Kareofelas said. "It was a great night!"
Smith spent the entire open house demonstrating how to spread the wings of moths. “I couldn't believe how many people came, and I was never ABLE to leave the table where I was demonstrating spreading," Smith said. "There was a constant group of people watching and asking questions, such as 'How did you become interested in this?' and of course, lots of questions on the spreading materials and techniques."
“The moment the door officially opened at 8 p.m., groups came in and headed in all different directions," Smith said. "One couple from Dixon was there with a group of scouts and they must have hung around my demo for 45 minutes with all kinds of interest and questions. People showed me photos on their cell phones of the white-lined sphinx moth, the ceanothus silk moth, and even a buck moth (Hemileuca) from Mono Basin."
Smith said he allowed "at least 10 different young people try their own hand at spreading a moth or two and that was really well received. I had a ziplock bag of surplus, papered moths and let some of the people take some for themselves. When it finally slowed a bit, I finally got up and couldn't believe it was already past 11 p.m." He headed over to the moth aisle where Kareofelas was still showing and answering questions about moths. "Greg did an amazing job. And, I ended up talking to a couple who work on campus until nearly 11:30."
Outside, the crowd marveled at the chalk drawings, including the tiger moths created by Srdan Tunic of UC Davis, a second-year master's degree student in art history. Skilled in street art and in academics (his Linked In profile indicates "Curating: creating bridges between art and people, ideas and objects"), Tunic is the co-founder, researcher and guide of Street Art Walks Belgrade, where he conducts lectures and tours on street art, graffiti, and the history of Belgrade. He holds a bachelor of arts degree (2008) in art history from the University of Belgrade, Serbia, and a master of arts in cultural policy and management (2017) from the University of Arts, Belgrade. He expects to receive his master's degree in art history from UC Davis in May of 2023.
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, and directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, houses a global collection of more than eight million insect specimens. It also houses a live "petting zoo" (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas) and an insect-themed gift shop. The latest t-shirt features a Jerusalem cricket, aka potato bug.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
As of Feb. 11, the videos posted on this site for free, public viewing include:
- "All About Nematodes," an 11-minute YouTube video by Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology." He explains what they are and discusses the diversity and research involved. See https://youtu.be/3fhv-P_O8I8.
- "Virtual Tour of the Bohart's Lepidoptera Collection," a 13-minute Aggie Video by Diane Ullman, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. She describes the natural history and ecology of several colorful and toxic species in the Bohart Museum of Entomology. See https://bit.ly/2LHYFzL
- "Insect Collection, Preservation and Identification," a 15-minute Aggie Video by Steve Heydon, senior museum scientist, Bohart Museum of Entomology. Heydon, the curator and collections manager of the Bohart Museum, gives an overview of how the museum collects, preserves and identifies some of its nearly 8 million specimens. See https://bit.ly/375eXdC
- "Common Millipedes of the Sacramento-San Francisco Region," a 23-minute YouTube video by Xavier Zahnle, a doctoral student in the lab of Professor Jason Bond lab, the Schlinger Chair in Systematics. Zahnle reviews the major groups of millipedes that are commonly found in the region, the diversity, and what makes them unique. See https://youtu.be/ZMAzm3A95VE
- "Demonstration of Insect Preparation: Butterflies and Moths," a 9-minute Aggie Video featuring Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. He describes how to pin and spread moths and butterflies. This technique is the most common method that museums and researchers use to display adult Lepidopterans, allowing scientists to identify and study this diverse group of insects. See https://video.ucdavis.edu/media/0_9nymgt3c
- "All About Arachnids," a 24-minute YouTube video by Lacie Newton, a doctoral student in the lab of Professor Jason Bond lab, the Schlinger Chair in Systematics. She talks about the diversity of arachnids (spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites etc.) and their unique characteristics. https://youtu.be/FM_ANqARkI0
Other topics range from the Phaff Yeast Collection, California Raptor Center and the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology to the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. More videos, including one on the diversity of bees by Chris Casey, manager of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's bee garden, the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, are being loaded throughout the month of February. To access all of the pre-recorded videos and activities, click here. To access the schedule of live talks and demonstrations, click here.
About the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month
The 10th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month program is all virtual this year via webinars and pre-recorded presentations. All take place throughout the month of February. The science-based event traditionally occurs on only one day--the Saturday of Presidents' Weekend, when families and friends gather on campus to learn first-hand about the UC Davis museums and collections.
This year's biodiversity event focuses on 12 museums or collections:
- Anthropology Museum
- Arboretum and Public Garden
- Bohart Museum of Entomology
- Botanical Conservatory
- California Raptor Center
- Center for Plant Diversity
- Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
- Nematode Collection
- Marine Invertebrate Collection
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
- Paleontology Collection
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection
One of the activities listed in the pre-recorded talks and activities is a 10-page coloring book on plant-insect interactions. It's the work of Molly Barber, Fernanda Guizar, Collin Gross and Jasen Liu of the Santiago Ramirez lab, UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology. Ramirez is a global authority on orchid bees. Download the PDF of the coloring book here.
To help support the Biodiversity Museum event, contributions are being accepted through a month-long crowdfunding campaign program at https://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/project/24310.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Bohart Museum will live-stream the free open house on Facebook. Entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the 500,000 Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) collection, will show specimens and answer questions.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the Bohart Museum's first-ever Virtual Moth Open House.
“We started holding a moth-themed open house near Mother's Day in May, because people who are enthusiasts for moths are called moth-ers,” said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum. “We then switched our programming to align with National Moth Week. This year's Moth Week is July 18-26. The annual event is celebrated throughout the world with private and public events.
Bohart Museum officials are preparing videos on black-lighting and how to spread and pin moths.
During the Facebook Live program, viewers can type in their questions on moths.
Smith is expected to answer questions such as:
- What is the largest moth?
- How do butterflies and moths differ?
- What is so unique about moths?
- Why should we be concerned with moth diversity?
Smith received a 2015 Friend of the College Award from the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for saving the museum some $160,000 over a 27-year period through his volunteer service.
Kimsey, who has directed the museum since 1989, remembers when Smith joined the museum. “When Jeff was working for Univar Environmental Services, a 35-year career until his retirement in 2013, he would spend some of his vacation days at the museum. Over the years Jeff took over more and more of the curation of the butterfly and moth collection. He took home literally thousands of field pinned specimens and spread their wings at home, bringing them back to the museum perfectly mounted. To date he has spread the wings on more than 200,000 butterflies and moths. This translates into something like 33,000 hours of work!” The numbers have since increased.
“About a decade ago, Jeff began helping us by assembling specimen drawers from kits that we purchased,” Kimsey related. “This substantially lowered our curatorial costs, from $50/drawer to $16/drawer. We use several hundred drawers a year to accommodate donated specimens, research vouchers and specimens resulting from research grants and inventories. More recently, he's been accumulating scrap lumber and making the drawers from scratch at no cost to us. Overall, he has made more than 2000 drawers. Additionally, he makes smaller specimen boxes with the leftover scrap wood, which are used by students taking various field courses in the department. We simply could not curate the collection without his contributions.”
Kimsey praised Smith for completely reorganizing the butterfly and moth collection. “It's no small feat to rearrange this many specimens, housed in roughly one thousand drawers,” she said. “Many thousands of the specimens needed to be identified, and the taxonomy required extensive updating and reorganization.”
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, 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. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum.
Bohart Museum is the home of a “live” petting zoo featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas, and a gift shop, stocked with T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
Link:
Spreading Wings: The Amazing Work of Bohart Museum Associate Jeff Smith
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The open houses, scheduled primarily on the third Saturdays (except for the campuswide Biodiversity Museum Day), will take place in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. They are free, family friendly and open to the public.
All ages are welcome, said Bohart director Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, and Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
The schedule:
Saturday, Sept. 21, 1 to 4 p.m.
Theme: "Gobble, Gobble, Munch, Munch, Crunch: Entomophagy" (eating insects)
Saturday, Oct. 19, 1 to 4 p.m.
Theme: "Parasitoid Palooza!"
Saturday, Nov. 16, 1 to 4 p.m.
Theme: "Arthropod Husbandry: Raising Insects for Research and Fun"
Saturday, Jan. 18, 1 to 4 p.m.
Theme: "Time Flies When You are Studying Insects: Cutting Edge Student Research"
Saturday, Feb. 15:
Ninth Annual Biodiversity Museum Day
The Bohart is part of the annual campuswide Biodiversity Museum Day, spotlighting museums and collections. This free, educational event offers visitors the opportunity to meet and talk with UC Davis scientists--from undergraduate students to staff to emeritus professors--and "see amazing objects and organisms from the world around us."
Saturday, March 21, 1 to 4 p.m.
Theme: "Busy Bees and Their Microbial Friends"
Saturday, April 18
106th Annual UC Davis Picnic Day
Picnic Day begins with the parade opening ceremony at 9:30 a.m., and the parade begins at 10 am. Most events hosted by Picnic Day run from 10 am to 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. All events hosted by Picnic Day start after 9 a.m. and end before 5 p.m.
Saturday, May 16, 1 to 4 p.m.
Theme: "Farmers' Foes and Friends"
Saturday, June 2020 (date and time to be announced)
Theme: "The Eight-Legged Wonders, with the American Arachnological Society"
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, 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. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum. It maintains a live "petting zoo," featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks or stick insects, tarantulas, and praying mantids. The museum's gift shop, open year around, includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
Director of the museum is Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis. The staff includes Steve Heydon, senior museum scientist; Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator; and Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) section.
The museum is open to the public Mondays through Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m., except on holidays. More information on the Bohart Museum is available on the website at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by contacting (530) 752-0493 or bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.