Bohart Museum of Entomology: One Busy Place!

The Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, is one busy place--lots of activities planned this summer and there's a newly announced schedule of summer hours.

Moth Night. The Bohart will celebrate National Moth Night: Exploring Night Time Nature on Saturday, Aug. 3, instead of in July. The event, free and family friendly, will take place from 8 to 11 p.m. Visitors can view the Bohart's world-class collection of moths, make a craft, and search for moths outside with experts. Scientists will set up a blacklight to draw night-flying insects. The set-up includes a white sheet that's illuminated by a generator-powered ultraviolet (UV) light.

Last year Bohart associate and "Moth Man" John De Benedictis listed the species, by family, sighted at Moth Night. Among them

• NOCTUIDAE: Spodoptera exigua (Beet Armyworm Moth), Proxenus sp. (probably P. mindara)
• GEOMETRIDAE: Prochoerodestruxaliata
• PYRALIDAE: Ehestiodesgilvescentella
• TORTRICIDAE: Cydia latiferreana (Filbertworm Moth), Grapholita prunivora (Lesser Appleworm Moth)
• GELECHIIDAE: Leucogniella sp. (probably L. distincta)
• TINEDAE: Oinophila v-flava
• ACROLOPHIDAE: Amydria sp. (cannot tell genus or species without dissecting. Likely Pseudopsalta confusella.)

Lepidopterists' Society Meeting. The Bohart Museum will be closed to the public July 8-12 to accommodate the 68th annual meeting of the Lepidopterists' Society.  The Bohart Museum, to host the conference, maintains the seventh largest insect collection in North America with more than eight million specimens. It is also the home of the California Insect Survey.

New Summer Hours. The Bohart Museum will be closed in the mornings to walk-in visitors due to scheduled tours and outreach events, announced Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. The insect museum will be open to visitors from 1 to 5 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays "and we are offering a scavenger hunt."

"On Wednesdays, starting July 3 at 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., we will have casual 30-minute tours for walk-in visitors," she said. "No reservations are required. All of these events are free to the public, but donations are suggested."

Directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis professor of entomology, the insect museum is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. The Bohart also houses a gift shop and a live "petting zoo," comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas.