In accordance with UC Davis's current policies, we are temporarily closed to the public until further notice. Please reach us by email.
Museum HappeningsHappy Moth Week!July 17-25 is National Moth Week . This year at the Bohart we are creating some short, informative videos about moths. Enjoy this first one about rearing silk moths with more to come! To enjoy the moth page that we created last year click here.
Missed the 2021 UC Davis Picnic Day?
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"Mimicry in the Lepidoptera" (Butterflies and Moths)
The recording from a Zoom presentation featuring entomologist Jeff Smith, the volunteer curator of the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart. (1:08:24) |
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"Gulf Fritillary: A Butterfly with a Silver Lining"
Pre-recorded video by Greg Kareofelas, a museum associate, about the history, life cycle and tips on this now local butterfly and how to raise them. (10:56) |
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Picnic Day from the Department of Entomology and Nematology
EGSA T-Shirt Sales
Order items here.
Can Plants Communicate?
A pre-recorded video by Professor Richard Karban, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, an expert on plant communication.
Video here.
What Are Nematodes?
A pre-recorded video on "The Wonderful World of Nematodes" by nematologist Steve Nadler, professor and chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Video here.
Ants of Davis
A pre-recorded video by ant lab of Professor Phil Ward, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Graduate students in the Ward lab will talk about their ant research.
A downloadable coloring sheet will be available.
Video here.
Entomology at UC Davis
This will include links to all of the department-based KQED videos and a downloadable coloring sheet.
Document here.
Lil' Swimmers
Professor Sharon Lawler offers a pre-recorded video, adapted from her live lil' swimmers exhibit. She will display water striders, dragonflies and damselflies and discuss their biology.
Video here.
Can Bumble Bees Take the Heat?
A downloadable PDF from the lab of Professor Neal Williams about climate change and native species.
Document here.
Fly Fishers of Davis
A pre-recorded video. Learn about the Davis Fly Fishers Club.
Video here.
UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program
A downloadable worksheet will be offered.
Good bugs Activity Kit info
Ladybird Beetle Life Cycle sheet ( y en Español)
Depredadores benéficos
More links can be found on the Picnic Day website.
Fight the Bite
This will be pre-recorded/reposted video from the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito Control District. Folks can learn about local vector control.
Video here.
EGSA T-Shirt Sales
Order items here.
Can Plants Communicate?
A pre-recorded video by Professor Richard Karban, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, an expert on plant communication.
Video here.
What Are Nematodes?
A pre-recorded video on "The Wonderful World of Nematodes" by nematologist Steve Nadler, professor and chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Video here.
Ants of Davis
A pre-recorded video by ant lab of Professor Phil Ward, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Graduate students in the Ward lab will talk about their ant research.
A downloadable coloring sheet will be available.
Video here.
Entomology at UC Davis
This will include links to all of the department-based KQED videos and a downloadable coloring sheet.
Document here.
Lil' Swimmers
Professor Sharon Lawler offers a pre-recorded video, adapted from her live lil' swimmers exhibit. She will display water striders, dragonflies and damselflies and discuss their biology.
Video here.
Can Bumble Bees Take the Heat?
A downloadable PDF from the lab of Professor Neal Williams about climate change and native species.
Document here.
Fly Fishers of Davis
A pre-recorded video. Learn about the Davis Fly Fishers Club.
Video here.
UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program
A downloadable worksheet will be offered.
Good bugs Activity Kit info
Ladybird Beetle Life Cycle sheet ( y en Español)
Depredadores benéficos
More links can be found on the Picnic Day website.
Fight the Bite
This will be pre-recorded/reposted video from the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito Control District. Folks can learn about local vector control.
Video here.
For more wonderful butterfly work here in the Sacramento area peruse Prof. Art Shapiro's website about his long-term study collecting data on local butterflies.
Stuck at home? Bored? Stressed?
Find some roly-polies! Watch bees!
READ more about insects!
Need some good reading about arthropods and the people who study them, plus amazing backyard photos of insects? Kathy Keatley Garvey, our department's communications guru, has faithfully maintained this great blog about all things insects.
Need some good reading about arthropods and the people who study them, plus amazing backyard photos of insects? Kathy Keatley Garvey, our department's communications guru, has faithfully maintained this great blog about all things insects.
WATCH these 5 minute nature videos
Deep Look a series of on-line videos from KQED, the public broadcasting system in San Francisco. Some favorite titles that stem from UC Davis are:
"A Tse-tse fly births one enormous milk-fed baby" (with the UC Davis Attardo Lab)
"This dangerous mosquito lays her armored eggs - in your house" (with the UC Davis Attardo Lab)
"Watch this bee build her bee-jeweled nest" (with the UC Davis Williams Lab)
Deep Look a series of on-line videos from KQED, the public broadcasting system in San Francisco. Some favorite titles that stem from UC Davis are:
"A Tse-tse fly births one enormous milk-fed baby" (with the UC Davis Attardo Lab)
"This dangerous mosquito lays her armored eggs - in your house" (with the UC Davis Attardo Lab)
"Watch this bee build her bee-jeweled nest" (with the UC Davis Williams Lab)
The pre-recorded videos about organisms or topics related to museums and biodiversity can still be enjoyed here at biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu
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News
Tiny beetles in your pantry
Over the past few weeks there have been numerous phone calls and emails to the Bohart regarding tiny beetles inside people's homes in west Davis and parts of Woodland. Samples of the beetles were identified by colleagues at the California Department of Food and Agriculture as Tribolium castaneum, or red flour beetles. These 3 millimeter long beetles are harmless other than their affinity for our grains, flours, rice and cereals. There is "no need to panic" and spraying pesticides is not recommended. Watch this short "public service" announcement (2:10 minutes) featuring Professor Lynn Kimsey about these beetles and what to do if find them in your home.
For more information, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR) has a useful page on pantry pests: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/QT/pantrypestscard.html
Delta field work underway
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Images courtesy of Brennen Dyer.
The California Delta is the largest freshwater marsh on the western coast of North America. All the water of most of California’s large rivers, the American, Sacramento, Feather, San Joaquin, Mokelumne, and Tuolumne Rivers to name a few, drain through the Delta on its way to the sea. The marsh is a consequence of the flatness of the central part of the Central Valley and the narrowness of the channel through the Carquinez Straight that the water must use to get through to the San Francisco Bay and the ocean.
The central location of the Delta, combined with the flat land and the abundant water, made this region an early target for conversion into agriculture. The heart of the marshes were diked off, the land inside the dikes drained, and the land converted to agriculture. Now, after more than 100 years, some of this land is being converted back to a more natural state.
The big question in any such reclamation efforts is are you recreating a natural habitat or just a garden. In other words are native species recolonizing the native plants that you are planting. The Bohart Museum is involved with the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology here at UC Davis to evaluate the rehabilitation efforts in the Delta.
Last year we surveyed the insects at 11 different sites using mass trapping techniques such as pitfall traps that collect crawling arthropods, blue vane traps to collect bees, and Malaise traps that capture flying insects. We just began our second season of work and will focus this year on collecting certain kinds of insects that were missed last year. We will be running light traps to collect nocturnal insects and yellow pan traps that will collect aphids and certain kinds of wasps. In addition, we will be collecting aquatic insects and insects that we see in the environment such as butterflies, dragonflies and bees.
The central location of the Delta, combined with the flat land and the abundant water, made this region an early target for conversion into agriculture. The heart of the marshes were diked off, the land inside the dikes drained, and the land converted to agriculture. Now, after more than 100 years, some of this land is being converted back to a more natural state.
The big question in any such reclamation efforts is are you recreating a natural habitat or just a garden. In other words are native species recolonizing the native plants that you are planting. The Bohart Museum is involved with the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology here at UC Davis to evaluate the rehabilitation efforts in the Delta.
Last year we surveyed the insects at 11 different sites using mass trapping techniques such as pitfall traps that collect crawling arthropods, blue vane traps to collect bees, and Malaise traps that capture flying insects. We just began our second season of work and will focus this year on collecting certain kinds of insects that were missed last year. We will be running light traps to collect nocturnal insects and yellow pan traps that will collect aphids and certain kinds of wasps. In addition, we will be collecting aquatic insects and insects that we see in the environment such as butterflies, dragonflies and bees.
(Photo left to right is the artist Solomon Bassoff of Faducci LLC, and Lynn Kimsey, Bohart Museum Director. Photo courtesy of Solomon Bassoff.)
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Tardigrade sculpture gets installed!The water bear or tardigrade sculpture got installed in front the Bohart Museum of Entomology on February 4. It promises not only to be a cuddly campus landmark but it may be the world's largest—and only—sculpture of its kind. “I was so excited to see it on the truck,” said Kimsey, who launched the project via a GoFundMe account two years ago. “Looking at pictures is one thing but the real thing was awesome and its really fun to see it in front of the building. " For more information read: |
Could Giant Asian Hornets establish in California?
Giant Asian Hornet wearing a tracking device. (Photo courtesy of the Washington State Department of Agriculture.)
On October 24, entomologists with the Washington State Department of Agriculture successfully tracked and captured a nest of Giant Asian Hornets (Vespa mandarinia) in their state. Could they ever successfully establish in California?
Prof. Lynn Kimsey will be discussing "murder hornets" in a live Zoom webinar on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 1:00 p.m. as part of the Biodiversity Museum Day/Month events.
Prof. Lynn Kimsey will be discussing "murder hornets" in a live Zoom webinar on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 1:00 p.m. as part of the Biodiversity Museum Day/Month events.
The Bohart gift shop is now on-line!
Know someone who needs a dragonfly t-shirt or a tardigrade sweatshirt to brighten their day. Is their a young entomologist in your life that could use a net?
Welcome Video with Director Lynn Kimsey
