That UC Davis Beetle T-Shirt: A Big Hit Across the Pond

That UC Davis beetle T-shirt is NOT more popular than The Beatles, but it sure is a big hit, both here and across the pond.

On July 30, 2024,  Bug Squad featured internationally celebrated entomologist Jeremy Nichol McNeil (1944-2024), a British-Canadian distinguished professor, researcher and author who died July 18 in Toronto, Ontario at age 79.

He was fondly known as "The Bug Man." He loved bugs and he loved collecting T-shirts. He had about 600 of them, and his family is selling them and donating the proceeds to his program, "Let's Talk Science" and to St. Joseph's Hospice of London.

One of the T-shirts he loved was "The Beetles,"  designed and sold by the UC Davis Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA). The illustration mimics The Beatles (George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon) crossing Abbey Road. Meet "The Beetles" from the families of Phengogidae, Curculionidae, Cerambycidae and Scarabaeidae. Think glowworm beetles, snout beetles, long-horned beetles and scarab beetles. 

This week we contacted Jeremy McNeil's partner, Shelley Yeo, to inquire about his T-shirt collection and the opportunity to donate. Curious, we asked if "The Beetles" T-shirt is still available. She wrote back: "The beetle T-shirt is long gone and asked for many times!"

"Long gone and asked for many times" but it's still available on the EGSA site at https://mkt.com/UCDavisEntGrad/, as are other T-shirts, all designed by UC Davis graduate students. Yes, Santa likes bugs and he likes to deliver bug shirts!

This all came about after UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal posted an image on X (formerly Twitter) that showed McNeil wearing "The Beetles" T-shirt.  Leal wrote: "Jeremy McNeil (Nov. 20, 1944 – July 18, 2024) had 500+ entomology-themed T-shirts, but this is--without a doubt--the number one! I am slightly biased because I like beetles in the family Scarabaeidae, not because I'm a @ucdavis faculty of course."

"Jeremy died as he lived, tenacious and determined to the last--qualities that served him well as he blazed a trail through life," according to his obituary in Legacy.com. "He was recognised internationally as an eminent research scientist, publishing hundreds of papers, holding many positions of distinction and receiving countless accolades and awards. These include, among many others, President of the Royal Society of Canada, the Humboldt Research Fellowship in Germany, and the Order of Canada for his services to education. He was a passionate and enthusiastic educator his whole life, an ambassador equally at ease with everyone from VIPs to children."

Legacy.com noted that "He received several national awards for his outreach activities, often saying the publication that he was most proud of was What is an Insect?, a children's book he co-wrote with Let's Talk Science, which has been translated into five languages, and is used as a teaching aid in schools across Canada."

Jeremy, born in Tonbridge, England, but a resident of Canada since 1945, received his bachelor's degree in zoology, with honors, from the University of Western Ontario in 1969, and his doctorate in entomology and ecology from North Carolina State University in 1972. He served as a professor at Western Ontario from 2004 until his death.

McNeil would have been delighted with the Nov. 29th news story in The London Free Press headlined "The Bug Man' loved insect tees. They're now being sold to help good causes."  (See news story)

An excerpt: "Just through word of mouth among the hundreds of people whose lives McNeil touched, about half the T-shirts in the For the Love of Bugs campaign have been sold and Yeo and a crew of helpers have raised $5,300 for Let's Talk Science and St. Joseph's Hospice of London...The campaign is going public to sell the rest and continue supporting the two organizations. Let's Talk Science is a national organization that teaches children about science, one of McNeil's favourite causes, and the hospice is where he spent the past weeks of his life."

To view the shirts still available in the McNeil collection, access www.dananosella.com/album/f1siv7  

For information about how to get a T-shirt from the McNeil collection and donate, email Shelley Yeo at shelleyeo@hotmail.com.