This Sunday's Bohart Museum Open House Will Be 'Un-Belizeable'

DAVIS, CA – PHOTOS: 1. This moth, Automeris excreta (Saturniidae), is one of the specimens collected in Belize for the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Steve Heydon); 2. Senior museum scientist Steve Heydon with some of the insects collected in Belize. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey); 3. UC Davis graduate student Judy Chung collecting moths in Belize. (Photo by Steve Heydon).

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

What did you do on your vacation?Probably not what a group of scientists from the Bohart Museum of Entomology did.

They journeyed to Belize to collect insects for the museum and brought back about 100,000 specimens. Entomologist Fran Keller, a Bohart associate who received her doctorate from UC Davis, co-led the tour. She is now an assistant professor of zoology at Folsom Lake College.

You can learn about their journey, what they collected, and also glean information on how to collect insects if you attend the Bohart Museum's open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 18 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, located on Crocker Lane.

The event, free and open to the public, is the first in a series of weekend open houses at the Bohart Museum during the academic year.

Insects collected ranged from orchid bees to morpo butterflies to moths. The contingent to Belize included Steve Heydon, senior museum scientist at the Bohart Museum; entomologist Jeff Smith, who curates the moth and butterfly collection at the Bohart; and entomologists from the doctorate level to graduate students and undergraduate students.

The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, is a world-renowned insect museum that houses a global collection of nearly 8 million specimens. It also maintains a live “petting zoo,” featuring walking sticks, Madagascar hissing cockroaches and tarantulas. A gift shop, open year around, includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.

The Bohart Museum's regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The museum is closed to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and on major holidays.

Admission is free.

More information on the Bohart Museum is available by contacting (530) 752-493 orbmuseum@ucdavis.edu.

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