Why Santa Claus Is A Robber Fly ...

PHOTOS:

1) Santa Claus is a robber fly in this work by UC Davis undergraduate entomology student Wade Spencer. The beard resembles a robber fly’s “fluffy white facial setae,” he says.

2) A robber fly. (photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

3) Wade Spencer is shown here holding a Bohart Museum patch. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

4) UC Davis entomology student Wade Spencer of the Bohart Museum of Entomology also crafted this art work of “Happy Hanukkah,” using stick insects.

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By Kathy Keatley Garvey

DAVIS, CA -- Santa Claus is a robber fly. And Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a male argid sawfly.

Take it from UC Davis entomology undergraduate student Wade Spencer. When entomologists think “holidays,” they also think “insects.”

Santa’s beard resembles a robber fly’s “fluffy white facial setae,” he said. Rudolph’s antlers look like a sawfly’s “bifurcated antennae.”

The creative ideas surfaced when teaching assistants Wade Spencer and Christine Melvin---who received her bachelor’s degree in entomology last week--were working with students in an entomology class taught by Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and UC Davis professor of entomology.

While looking at an argid sawfly, they figured it resembled Rudolph. Just add a red nose.

“Male argids have bifurcated antennae which resemble antlers,” Spencer said. “ I then became uncontrollably excited and had to share it with Lynn. I suggested we make it a Bohart Christmas card and she loved the idea. So, I went through our argid collection at the museum (home of eight million insect specimens) and found two specimens which would work. I then photographed them under the microscope, stacked the images, and uploaded them to Photoshop to add the nose and effects.”

As Spencer was photographing the argids, Bohart Museum volunteer/scientist Noah Crockette walked by. “He suggested we should find an insect with fluffy white facial setae for an ‘insect Santa’ and the moment he said that the image of an asilid (robber fly) popped into my mind.”

Robber flies, from the family Asilidae, are also called assassin flies. They feed on other insects and often ambush prey or catch them in flight.

Next Spencer thought of creating a menorah for Hanukkah. Hmm, couldn’t those long stick insects serve as the candles? They could and they did. The result is a “Happy Hanukkah” image, complete with phasmids (stick insects).

“Wade is a very talented student, a good entomologist and graphic artist!” said Lynn Kimsey.

Spencer earlier created a peacock dancing spider costume and performed a courtship dance at the Bohart Museum’s Halloween open house. The video, by Bohart Museum associate/entomologist Fran Keller, went viral, receiving more than 2 million hits. (See more information and the link on the Bug Squad blog at at http://bit.ly/1RjbQye)

The Bohart Museum of Entomology is the home of nearly eight million insect specimens, including a live “petting zoo” (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and a rose-haired tarantula named “Peaches).

The museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. It is open to the public from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m., Monday throughThursday, but is closed to the public on holidays, including from Dec. 18 through Jan. 4.