CONTENTS

Directors Note 1

Spotlight on a Species 1

Museum News 2

More Museum News 5

Moth Night 6

Traveling T-Shirts 6

The Bug Doctor 7

In This Issue

Bohart Museum Society

Summer 2016 Newsletter No. 67

Bohart Museum Society Newsletter Summer 2016

Continued on page 4.

Directors Note-

Every summer the Bohart sees our group of student interns change. It’s sad in a way because we get to know everyone so well and many friendships are borne. Yet it’s great too because the students are moving on in life, taking new jobs or going to professional school, with the experiences and training they gained in the museum.

This summer is also remarkable because we have received several valuable collections, several are described in this newsletter and the others will be described in the fall newsletter. Add to these, the collections made by a group from the Bohart in Belize, and some important additions have been made to the Bohart collections.

Lynn Kimsey

Attack of the House Eaters

By Lynn Kimsey

Termites are some of the most maligned yet seemingly harmless insects. For the most part they don’t sting, bite or do anything else that would cause us physical discomfort. However, even though we may not fear them, we still dislike termites. As anyone who buys a home in the Sacramento Valley knows, eventually you will have termites in your house. This costs money, and we don’t like spending money on things we don’t like, like termites.

Termites are social insects with distinct castes that live together in colonies. Their sociality is quite different from anything seen in the social wasps, bees and ants. In social wasps, bees and

ants the castes are all female. In termites the castes consist of both sexes. There are four termite castes, reproductives, secondary reproductive, soldiers and workers. Reproductives are winged, fertile males and females, called alates. They shed their wings after pairing and begin new colonies together. Each colony is founded by a queen and king. Secondary reproductives have compound eyes and wing buds. Sterile workers are wingless and lack eyes. Soldiers, resemble workers, except that they have long, narrow or large blocky heads and large jaws.

Termites feed on wood and other kinds of dried plant debris and generally nothing else. Because wood is a poor food source, most termites have either bacteria or Protozoa living in their digestive tract that help them digest cellulose very much like cows do. As a consequence termites, like cows, produce measureable amounts of methane. In fact, a study in 1982 Found that nearly 4% of global atmospheric methane could be attributed to termite flatulence!

We tend to think termites are pretty boring, but in fact they do some interesting things. In the desert termites feed at night, bringing moisture up from the water table to make mud sheaths around wood to protect

Subterranean termites. Photo by E.S. Ross.

Global sources of methane according to a 1997 NASA study; http://icp.giss.nasa.gov/education/methane/intro/cycle.html.

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Bohart Museum Society Newsletter Summer 2016

MUSEUM NEWS

It is summertime at the Bohart Museum and pre-teens and teens from all over came to UC Davis for our special museum camps, including 14 year-old Amber Proctor, pictured at the right. These camps are cosponsored by the Bohart Museum and the Museum of Wildlife & Fish Biology. Amber in her application essay wrote, “I am looking forward to attend the summer camp, in particular the overnight Bodega Bay field trip because I am confident that the program will expand my curiosity to learn how to handle nature safely.”

We have an application process for our camps, and it’s very competitive. Amber’s application packet was compelling enough and so we were able to offer her a spot in the camp. Amber also qualified for one of our Bohart Society need-based camp scholarships, because her mother is a graduate student at UC Davis.

That week at camp Amber and eleven other campers, spent time at the Bohart and the Museum of Wildlife & Fish Biology, and hiked and explored along Putah Creek. They were skillfully guided by camp instructors Tom Nguyen, a recent UC Davis graduate, and Andie Carrillo, an undergraduate in the Dept. of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. Jeff Smith, our volunteer curator of Lepidoptera, taught them how to pin, spread and label insects for collection-based research. They ended

Summer Camps at the Museum by Tabatha Yang

the week by spending one night at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory & Field Station.

After the camp was over Amber said that “I am thankful that I was able to receive a scholarship to attend Bio Boot Camp. It was the best science camp I have ever attended! I learned so many new things and made many good friends!”

A few weeks after Bio Boot Camp, we welcomed ten high school campers to BBC 2.0. These were students were from Davis, the Bay Area, the Sacramento region, and even one from Connecticut! Guided by two graduate students, Marshall McMunn, who studies ants and Allie Weill, who studies fire ecology, they spent the first night at the UC Davis Quail Ridge Field Station near Lake Berryessa for one night and then drove up to the mountains for 5 nights at Sagehen Creek Field Station near Truckee. Prof. Bohart spent many summers at Sagehen teaching the famous (or infamous) ENT 109 field course, so it is hallowed grounds for budding entomologists.

The camp has a blog, so I’ll let their words speak for the camp:

On Wednesday (7/12/16), we started our individual projects. Campers conducted different experiments based on observations they had made

BioBoot

campers on the

beach near the

Bodega Marine

Lab. Photo by

Tabatha Yang.

throughout the week. Maria and Maren looked at different species of ants in the forest to compare to species found in a burned section of the area. Maren and Maria also measured water content in the fen by taking samples and squeezing out the water to compare with other samples in different places. Lara surveyed the diet of the carnivorous plant, sundew. Andrew looked at the preferred feeding temperature of the Achemon blue butterfly. Sam looked for fish fly larvae and where they like to be. Eli compared two different species of ants’ behavior in different scenarios. Matt and Gwen surveyed different habitats for the species of moths and butterflies that were found in the area. Kayla observed fish behavior in the fish house. Adam observed what attracts insect to Sundews. After a dinner of pita pizza, there was group game night. Pictionary, telephone, and charades were played- everyone had a lot of fun.

-Maria, Maren, and Lara

Many thanks to the Bohart Museum Society for providing several scholarships for these campers. Camp applications are available starting in January and there is a March 31st deadline. Questions or comments about the camps are always welcome, as well as donations towards scholarships.

Amber Proctor at the microscope. Photo by Tabatha Yang.

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Bohart Museum Society Newsletter Summer 2016

Species named after David Verity. A California succulent,

Dudleya verityi, (left), photo courtesy of Anthony Valois and

the National Park Service, and Acmaeodera verity Westcott

(right) a buprestid jewel beetle, photo courtesy of the

California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco.

The Bohart Museum has become the new home of a very fine collection of buprestid jewel beetles and other beetles and insects donated by David Verity.

David Verity spent most of his career as the collection manager at the University of California, Los Angeles herbarium and botanical garden. Even though plants were his passion, they weren’t the only one. As a student he collected mosquitoes in Mexico for John Belkin, who was then at UCLA. His interests in insects then turned into a lifelong passion for the jewel beetles (family Buprestidae) and histerid beetles (family Histeridae). Bohart Museum Society member Rick Westcott stated that he “owed it to Dave that (he) became a buprestidologist”. Over the years David Verity worked with other buprestid specialists including William Barr, Gayle Nelson and Chuck Bellamy. He also described several new buprestid species, including Gyascutus allenrolfeae (Verity); Acmaeodera bacchariphaga Westcott &

Laurel Woodley Sagehen Creek Collection

Laurel Woodley a student at UC Davis in the 1960’s helped David Verity and us with packing and moving his collection. At the same time she donated her collection of 2,148 specimens made at the Sagehen Creek field station when she took Professor Bohart’s summer field course (ENT 109; what we now call Bug Boot Camp). Her collection is of great value because it can be used to study the kinds of environmental changes and therefore biological changes that have taken place in the Sagehen Creek basin since the entomology department began teaching the field course there in the 1960’s.

Verity. He also had a number of buprestid species named after him, including Acmaeoderoides verityi Nelson, Acmaeodera verityi Westcott, Chrysobothris verityi Nelson, Agrilus verityi Hespenheide and Paratyndaris verityi Nelson & Bellamy.

His terrific collection contained 43,982 specimens! Of these there were 1,200 identified species of Buprestidae, 20 species of Chrysomelidae, 400 species of Histeridae and 130 species of Scarabaeidae, as well as unidentified Carabidae, Cerambycidae, flies in the Apioceridae, Mydaidae and Syrphidae, as well as butterflies, grasshoppers, moths, and many others. In addition, he contributed 72 glass-topped specimen drawers, 72 Schmidt boxes, 6 hard to find books on the Histeridae, and a nearly complete series of the Journal of the Coleopterists Society.

We want to thank David very much for donating his wonderful collection to the Bohart Museum.

SPECIMEN DONATIONS

David Verity and Lynn Kimsey showing off part of his collection. Photo courtesy of Laurel

Woodley.

MUSEUM NEWS

David Verity Beetle Collection

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Bohart Museum Society Newsletter Summer 2016

Continued from page 1.

described above. Subterranean termites build their nests in the soil, often deep underground, and feed on wood in the soil, such as buried tree stumps or wood debris, as well as on wood structures above the ground, including homes, piled firewood, wood debris from construction, fence posts and dead parts of trees. To do so they require a connection between the wood and the soil. These termites construct an earthen tube that provides a protected pathway between the two or even encloses small pieces of wood on the ground. This tube is often one of the first indications of a termite infestation in a building. They require fairly moist conditions, and are never found in dry wood. The galleries of subterranean termites can often be recognized because they are cut along with the grain of the wood.

Reproductives, or alates, emerge from the nests in mating flights in the spring after rain, or in the fall along the coast.

Damage from subterranean termites can be prevented or at least delayed by creating a barrier between the wood structure and the soil. In homes this might consist of concrete, stone, sand and brick foundations or footings, and timbers near the ground treated with insecticidal compounds or copper flashing. Routine inspection of buildings for these earthen tubes is essential.

Drywood Termites. Kalotermes differ from subterranean termites in a number of ways. First, they build their nests directly in wood and require no soil contact. Second, they have only two castes, reproductives and soldiers, and the juveniles do the equivalent work of sterile workers. There soldiers are large with powerful, toothed jaws. These insects commonly feed in wood structures, such as homes, piled lumber and even furniture. Unlike subterranean

termites, drywood termites can feed in dry wood without difficulty. Routine inspection of walls for ventilation holes and fine granular debris is essential if these termites are suspected.

Formosan Termites. These termites are found in the Southeastern U.S. along the Gulf Coast and in the Los Angeles basin. They were first reported from San Diego Co. in 1992, apparently introduced from Hawaii in potted plants. These termites are capable of building enormous colonies in fairly short periods. As a result they can cause considerable damage to buildings. There is some evidence that their activities may have been partly responsible for levee failures in Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina. It is unlikely that the Formosan termite will become a pest in most of California as it is not particularly cold tolerant.

There are a variety of control measures for termites available on the market, including microwaves, biological control using nematode worms and termite-parasitic fungi, carbon dioxide, fumigation, spot insecticide treatments, bait stations and heat. Each of these has some value, but the technique used depends on the location of the infestation and the kind of termite involved. Generally speaking organic treatments using various aromatic compounds derived from plants are ineffective. Therefore, correct identification of the type of termite is essential.

Formosan termite damage to floor beam. Photo thanks to Rust et al. 1998. California Agriculture http://californiaagriculture.ucanr.org/landingpage.cfm?article=ca.v052n02p34&fulltext=yes

themselves while feeding, so that they are never exposed to the dry desert air and predators. Other termites are apparently able to produce the enzymes necessary for breaking down cellulose themselves without microbial assistance. Some tropical termites were found to feed on carrion when opportunity arises. Yet others, generally found in the Southern Hemisphere build huge above ground mounds that may be decades or even centuries old.

In California there are four types of termites that cause structural damage. However, the two that cause most of the damage to wood structures in the State are the subterranean termites, in the genus Reticulotermes, and the drywood termites, genus Kalotermes. Two other types of termites cause some some structural damage in the state, but at least at this point are less of a problem. These are the native giant Pacific dampwood termites, Zootermopsis, and the Formosan termite, Coptotermes. The Pacific dampwood termites occasionally damage wooden structures in areas along the northern coast or in mountain areas, but the wood must be damp. The Formosan termite, a type of subterranean termite, was introduced into southern California in the 1990’s and has the potential to become a serious pest in warm parts of the state.

Subterranean Termites. Reticulotermes are among the most common pest termites. They have the four castes

Twigs encased in mud by desert termites. Photo by Lynn Kimsey.

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Bohart Museum Society Newsletter Summer 2016

AND MORE MUSEUM NEWS

Prof. Raymond E. Ryckman passed away July 8 at the young age of 99. He is best known for his landmark work on triatomine kissing bugs and Chagas’ disease. Last year he donated his terrific collection of more than 8,000 kissing bugs and insects reared from cacti to the Bohart Museum.

He was born on a farm in Wisconsin where he developed a lifelong interest in insects. During World War II he was drafted into the army and served at the Presidio Army Base in San Francisco. He met his wife, Evelyn, in San Francisco. After the war Ryckman graduated from San Francisco City College, and completed his B.S. degree in Zoology at UC Berkeley in 1950.

Before he could begin graduate school Ryckman was recruited into a faculty position at the School of Tropical Medicine at Loma Linda University. The U.S. Army Surgeon General’s Office funded him to study plague transmission as part of their concerns about troop health in Southeast Asia. Using the endemic plague cycle in California he developed innovative methods to study ground squirrel/flea/plague population dynamics.

Upon completion of the plague grant, Ryckman returned to UC Berkeley where he completed his M.S. degree on bedbugs under Robert Usinger in 1957. He continued working on his

Ph.D. under Usinger, studying the systematics and biology of Triatoma protracta, a vector of the Chagas’ disease pathogen. His thesis “Biosystematics of the Triatoma protracta complex in North America” was completed in 1959 and published in 1962.

His studies during this period are remarkable because after doing two years of required coursework at UCB

STEM & SEM

Hitachi Corporation has a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) outreach program where they loan a desktop scanning electron microscope (SEM) to an organization doing STEM education for a week or so to do demonstrations to kids.

Thanks to Lisa Tell, UCD Vet School, we contacted the Hitachi representative, Kimberly Elric, and arranged to have the SEM in the museum for a week in June and another two weeks in July. The SEM takes amazing photographs of tiny things and details of larger insects. It used to be that SEM’s occupied an entire room. This one sits on half of a desktop!

It would be wonderful to have one of these machines permanently in the museum.

Image of a robberfly taken by Charlotte Herbert using the desktop SEM (above), Steve Heydon showing visiting children the SEM (below).

he returned to Loma Linda to complete his research at the same time as he fulfilled his teaching requirements at Loma Linda. In 1960 he became a professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology, Loma Linda School of Medicine, and taught there until his retirement in 1987. During his time there he served for several years as Department Chair and taught hundreds of medical and graduate students.

Along with his interests in triatomine kissing bugs and Chagas’ disease Ryckman developed an interest in insects, particularly flies associated with cacti. He reared insects from rotting cacti and discovered the larval substrate for a wide diversity of desert insects including biting midges.

He and his family traveled extensively throughout Central and South America. Whenever he could he would bring back live kissing bugs to raise in colonies to further his studies. A species of kissing bug was named after him, Triatoma ryckmani Zeledón & Ponce, and he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society for Vector Ecology.

Ray Ryckman was a patient mentor and teacher, authority on triatomines and Chagas’ disease, family man and naturalist. He will be sorely missed.

His family is requesting donations in his name to go to the Bohart Museum to database his collection.

Raymond E. Ryckman, 1917-2016

Raymond Ryckman in the 50’s (left) and after re-tirement in 1991 (right). Photos courtesy of Loma Linda University and the Ryckman family.

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Bohart Museum Society Newsletter Summer 2016

Celebrate Moths!/Celebrar Polillasİ By Tabatha Yang

Saturday, July 30 we held a special evening museum open house in conjunction with National Moth Week. The event started at 8pm.

Folks from all over Northern California found their way to the Bohart for the Moth Night. Nearly 200 visitors came to the museum that evening. Many were

from Sacramento, Vacaville and surrounding areas, including some of the BBC 2.0 campers from the San Jose and the Bay Area

We met visitors at the door with a free cup of hot cocoa and a cookie. The fixings were donated in part by Peet’s Coffee.

Once inside the museum they looked through the Bohart’s impressive moth collection guided by society member Greg Kareofelas. They were also greeted by Norm Smith, a retired entomologist, who traveled to Davis from central California to assist with the event. Norm earned his PhD from UC Davis under the mentorship of Dr. Bohart in the 1970’s. He displayed incredible insects from his many travels, many of which he subsequently donated to the Bohart.

Other evening activities involved holding live insects and crafts - making a paper fan with big eye spots à la saturniids. After the sun went down museum associate John DeBenedictis and collections manager Steve Heydon set up

a black light station outside, so that people could view living moths and see how we use black lights to collect moths at night.

It was a fun evening and we must thank the team of 14 museum staff, students and friends for making it happen so successfully. This was the last open house in the 2015-16 year. This fall we will begin our new series. The calendar will be given in the next newsletter.

Chase Oakley with his moth wing fan. Photo courtesy of Kathy Keatly Garvey.

Bohart Museum Society member and UC Davis alum Norm Smith informing some

of our visitors to moth night. Photo courtesy of Kathy Keatly Garvey.

More Traveling T-Shirts

Hugh Dingle above is modeling one of our monarch t-shirts at Python Rock, in Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia. He was there as part of his monarch research. Photo by Mike Mathieson.

Monica Ballard taking a selfie with one of our Aussie walking sticks. Photo courtesy of Kathy Keatly Garvey.

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ASK THE BUG DOCTOR If you have an insect question, need advice, want an identification of something you’ve found, or would like to see an article in the newsletter on a particular topic let us know. Email us at bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.

A number of odd insect related questions and images have come into the museum since the last newsletter.

The Yellow Woolly Bear

There aren’t many insects that can cause skin rashes in California but silk moth and tiger moth caterpillars can cause some problems. Recently we had a request to identify the caterpillar that caused the rash below. It turned out to be the yellow woolly bear, Spilosoma viriginica. The caterpillar is quite brightly colored unlike the moth, which we would define as an LBM (little brown moth).

Bohart Museum Society Newsletter Summer 2016

Three Headed Beetle

Rahulan in India sent us this photo of a 3-headed beetle. Evidently the beetle had been attacked by weaver ants and had managed to escape with two of them clamped onto its antennae, tearing their heads off, only to be collected later...

Pest Coreids

Yet another pest bug has arrived in our area. Centrocoris variegatus (family Coreidae) is a plant pest that originates from Europe. It was first found in Santa Clara. Museum collaborator, Gail Pothour observed this large mass of the bugs on a friend’s chard plant in Davis.

Anti-Bat Defense

Moths have a number of different defenses against bats, such as changing their flight behavior when they hear bat sonar, tasting bad and clicking back to bats. However, researchers recently dis-covered a new species of tiger moth in the genus Cosmosoma in Ecuador that produces an explosion of sticky fibers to defend itself against bats and birds.

Eucalyptus Eaters

Blue gum Eucalyptus are being severely defoliated by an introduced leaf beetle, Trachymela sloanei, the Australian Tortoise Beetle.

Arm rash caused by touching a yellow woolly bear caterpillar in Mendocino. Photo by Zoe Yudice.

Spilosoma viriginica (yellow woolly bear caterpillar). Photo courtesy of Zoe Yudice.

Centrocoris variegatus on chard. Photo courtesy of Gail Pothour.

Three headed cerambycid. Photo courtesy of Rahulan.

New species of Cosmosoma

moth producing fibers. Photo by

Nick Dowdy, Wake Forest

University.

Trachymela sloanei, photo by Joyce Gross © UC Regents. Eucalyptus defoliated by the beetle on the UCD campus. Photo by Lynn

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Bohart Museum Society c/o Department of Entomology & Nematology University of California One Shields Ave. Davis, CA 95616

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