Just ask UC Davis entomology student Sol Wantz, who will present a talk on katydids (her favorite insect), grasshoppers and crickets at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house, set from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 3 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. It's free and family friendly.
We remember a crab spider that also found a katydid "incredibly fascinating." Umm, make that "nutritious." The spider grabbed the katydid on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifola) in our garden, paralyzed it with a venomous bite, and then dragged it beneath the petals to eat it.
It's all about the cycle of life. Everything eats in the garden.
Sol Wantz triples as a curator intern at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, a student researcher in the lab of pollination ecologist and professor Neal Williams, and as president of the UC Davis Entomology Club.
“I'll be giving a overview of all of the major and most interesting--in my opinion--families of Orthoptera," she said. The order includes some 20,000 species worldwide.
Did you know that "the katydid genus Supersonus produces the highest frequency sound of any known animal, up to 150 kHz!" she asks. "For reference, humans can hear only between 0 and 20 kHz."
The Bohart Museum, directed by Professor Jason Bond, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. It houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live petting zoo (Madagasgar hissing cockroaches, stick insects, tarantulas and more) and an insect-themed gift shop stocked with T-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, books, posters, jewelry and insect-collecting equipment.
For more information, access the Bohart website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or contact bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
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