Diversity of Bugs at Bohart Museum of Entomology

A Bohart Museum scientist points to a large long-horned beetle from Papua New Guinea. This is Batocera wallacei, named after Alfred Wallace who did much early biological exploring in this region, according to Bohart senior museum scientist Steve Heydon.(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Bohart Museum, home of nearly eight million insect specimens collected worldwide, will be one of the 13 museums or collections open on Saturday, Feb. 15 during the ninth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day.

Directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, the Bohart Museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. Scientists at the insect museum will greet visitors, show specimens, and answer questions from 9 a.m. to noon. The insect museum is also the home of a live "petting zoo," including Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, and tarantulas. Its year-around gift shop is stocked insect-themed t-shirts and jewelry, books, posters, and collecting equipment.

Here's what's on tap for the campuswide Biodiversity Museum Day, a science-based day that's free and family friendly. The event drew 4000 visitors last year.

The schedule:

• The Botanical Conservatory, the Greenhouses along Kleiber Hall Drive, will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The following five will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.:

• Arboretum and Public Garden, Shields Oak Grove, alongside the Vet School,  Garrod Drive on campus
• Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124 and Main Hall of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
• California Raptor Center, 340 Equine Lane, off Old Davis Road
• Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Room 1394 and Mail Hall,  Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
• Paleontology Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building, 434 LaRue Road

Two collections will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.:

• Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus
• Viticulture and Enology Culture Collection, Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road, on campus

These five will be open from noon to 4 p.m.:

• Anthropology Museum, 328 Young Hall and grounds
• Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive
• Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Bee Biology Road, off Hopkins Road (take West Hutchison Drive to Hopkins)
• Nematode Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive
• Marine Invertebrate Collection, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive

New this year will be public talks from noon to 1 p.m. in 194 Young Hall. The slate of speakers:

• Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, will discuss “Are Our Butterflies in Trouble?” (“Yes, they mostly are in trouble,” he says. He will discuss “How do we know and why?”)
• Gabrielle Nevitt, professor of animal behavior (on leave), will speak on “How Do Sub-Antarctic Seabirds Find their Food in the Vast Ocean?” (“They follow their nose," she says, "and sometimes it gets them into trouble.”)
• Melanie Truan, research ecologist, UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, will cover “Biodiversity Studies at the UC Davis Wildlife Museum.” Biodiversity studies, she says, “can tell us a lot about the world and how it is functioning. This is especially important today where the influence of Homo sapiens is having profound impacts on the planet and its inhabitants.” She will touch on some of the ways that the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology incorporates biodiversity into its research. 

Each scientist will present a 15-minute talk, with a question-and-answer session to follow.

All participating museums and collections have active education and outreach programs, said Biodiversity Museum Day coordinator Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum,  but the collections are not always accessible to the public.   Maps, signs and guides will be available at all the collections, and also online at http://biodiversitymuseumday.edu, and on social media, including Facebook and Twitter, @BioDivDay.