An Afternoon in the Lepidoptera Collection

One of the insect specimen drawers that Jeff Smith crafted. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

That's how many specimen drawers that Jeff Smith, volunteer curator of the Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart Museum of Entomology for the past 36 years, has crafted and donated to the "Lep" section.

Smith brought another batch to the Bohart Museum at the Jan. 11th open house.

Including No. 2,530.

The drawers, intricately made, are valued at $75 each. Smith explains how to make them here: https://www.resourcefulentomology.com/insect-drawers.

"Entomology is my passion and the Bohart Museum is my cause," says Smith, who not only crafts the drawers, but has spread the wings of some 180,000 moths and butterflies, typically 6,000 or more annually.  He also has donated some 100,000 specimens (primarily butterflies and moths but a few other insects, including beetles) to the Bohart Museum. 

Smith engages in public service at the Bohart Museum's open houses, answering questions about the insects and the collection, and sharing his knowledge at schools, festivals and other venues. He also demonstrates the craft of pinning and spreading moths and butterflies to the UC Davis Entomology Club. For his outstanding public service, Smith received the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences'  Friend of the College Award in 2015.

At the Jan. 11th open house, Smith and fellow Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas showed the specimens and answered questions. UC Davis entomology major Oliver Smith greeted the guests at the entrance to the collection.

Both Smith and Kareofelas (Kareofelas recently presented a talk on monarchs to the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society) are active in the international Lepidopterists' Society. They and their colleagues hosted the 2019 meeting of the Lepidopterists' Society in Davis. 

Bohart Museum guest Carrye Cooper of Redondo Beach, arrived with her canine companion, "Mini-Cooper," aka "Mini-Coop." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Knadle and Salocks both have doctorates in environmental toxicology/pharmacology, and are retired from the California/EPA Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, Sacramento. 

UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock, who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, remembers them well. "Chuck and Susan took the advanced class in biochemical toxicology that Mike Denison and I offered for many years," he commented. "And I was on Chuck's PhD Qualifying Exam and Thesis Committee. (Salocks received his doctorate from UC Davis in 1982.( It's hard to think of my babies as retired."

Students. UC Davis students Emily Anne Richter, majoring in chemistry, and Lalinna Naini, an environmental toxicology major, marveled at the global collection, which includes some 750,000 specimens.

The Bohart Museum is ranked as one of the top insect museums in the world. Professor Paul Opler (1938-2023) of Colorado State University, an international authority on butterflies and moths, said he considered the Bohart Lepidoptera collection "The Gold Standard to which we all should aspire.”

The Bohart Museum is planning four other open houses  through May 18:

• 14th annual Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 8 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Bohart Museum  (Eleven museums or collections on campus will be participating. See schedule for other venues)
• Open house on “Venomous vs.Poisonous” from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 2 at the Bohart Museum
• Campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 12; the Bohart Museum pop-up tent will be at Briggs Hall; the museum itself will be closed
• “Insects: Life Stages” from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, May 18 at the Bohart Museum 

The open houses are free and family friendly.  Director of the Bohart Museum is Professor Jason Bond,  the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology; and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. More information is available on the Bohart Museum website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu/ or by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.