Insect enthusiasts will love the Bohart Museum of Entomology's latest art piece, commissioned as part of the museum's 75th anniversary.

A small graphic is posted on the Bohart Museum website with a link to a large PDF that you can download and color.

It's the work of museum associate Christine Melvin, who received her bachelor's degree in entomology from UC Davis. It will soon be a beautiful banner that will grace the Bohart.

The Bohart folks ask: "Can you identify all the animals and plants?"  The flora and the fauna? Is your favorite insect there? Or maybe your favorite number? 75?

Directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, the Bohart Museum houses nearly 8 million insect specimens and is the seventh largest insect museum in North America.  It is also home to a live "petting zoo," comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas. A gift shop (now online) is stocked with insect-themed t-shirts, hoodies, jewelry, posters, books, candy, collecting equipment, and more.

No thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bohart is temporarily closed to the public, but it is open to the UC Davis and research communities. Stay tuned for when it will open to the general public again.

Meanwhile, the Bohart Museum scientists are seeking donations for their traveling insect specimen displays. They aim to raise $5000 by 11:59 p.m., Oct. 31 for their UC Davis CrowdFund project to purchase traveling display boxes for their specimens, which include bees, butterflies and beetles. These are portable glass-topped display boxes that travel throughout Northern California to school classrooms, youth group meetings, festivals, events, museums, hospitals--and more--to help people learn about the exciting world of insect science.

“When COVID halted our in-person outreach programs, we were still able to safely loan these educational materials to teachers,” said Tabatha Yang, the Bohart Museum's education and outreach coordinator.  “Now that UC Davis is open again to students we have all these bright, students on campus with fresh and diverse perspectives. We want to support their talent, so the funds we are raising will go to students for the creation of new traveling displays. This fleet of new educational drawers will expand and update what we can offer. Some of our current displays were created 15 years ago! One can only imagine all the places these drawers have been and all the people who have been inspired."

Like to donate $5? $10? $25? $50? $100? Or more? 

You can do so in memory of someone, a place, or your favorite insect! Here's to the bees, the butterflies and the beetles!  (And maybe a dragonfly, a syrphid fly or a praying mantis?) Access the donation page and map at https://bit.ly/3v4MoaJ