Interacting with the Bohart Museum of Entomology crowd are doctoral candidate Alexa "Lexie" Martin of the Rachel Vannette lab and fly specialist Martin Hauser of the Plant Pest Diagnostics Branch, California Department of Food & Agriculture. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Bohart Museum's Open House on 'Bees and Their Mimics' Draws Crowd

Doctoral Candidates Lexie Martin and Abby Lehner Created and Organized the Event

by By Kathy Keatley Garvey
November 29, 2025

The "Bird Brain" puppet in a game created by Lexie Martin. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Two UC Davis doctoral candidates—Alexia “Lexie” Martin and Abigail “Abby” Lehner-- planned and organized the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on “Bees and Their Mimics.”

“They did a very professional job putting it all together, very creative,” said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. “They had novel ways to engage the people with the information. Some were very fun and playful.”

Martin studies with community ecologist Rachel Vannette, professor and vice chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT), and Lehner, with pollination ecologist Neal Williams, entomology professor.

Unfortunately, Lehner was unable to attend due to a “bug” she apparently caught at the Entomologial Society of America, but created many of the materials, including a coloring sheet. “Even though she wasn’t there, she was very much a part of it,” Yang said.

A Girl Scout troop attended the event and each member qualified for her entomology “bug” badge. Among the attendees: three-month-old Ellie Hooten, wearing a bee-motif outfit and her parents UC Berkeley alumnus Mason Hooten and Sinead Clark, from Sacramento (he formerly worked in the lab of UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emerita Frank Zalom); Jennifer Oliveira of Napa, with the UC Master Gardeners; and Amy Hanna and her daughter who had just finished birding in the Vic Fazio Yolo Wildlife Area. Several others who attended came from the UC Arboretum and Public Garden plant sale and the UC Davis Goat Day celebration.

The doctoral candidates organized the following:

Booths

How to identify bees and their mimics: what traits entomologists use to tell bees apart from similar looking insects
Mimicry: Different types of mimicry performed by bee mimics and which may keep them safe from predators
'Bees' in media: Which are the real bees and which are misidentified
Ecosystem services: What contributions that bees and their mimics provide for the ecosystem

Games

A series of games that allowed attendees put their newfound bee identification skills to the test.

Is it a bee? Which insects are bees and which insects are mimics
Can it sting? Which insects can sting and which ones can't.
Guess the bee and mimic: This was a modified version of the classic "Guess Who?" game. All the cards were replaced with bees and bee-mimicking insects.
Bird Brain: Attendees pretended to be a bird in order to learn how mimicry helps to enforce whether an insect is dangerous
Coloring sheets: Coloring sheets featured three pollinators nectaring on a flower.

Victor Girarde, a UC Davis first-year entomology major, plays an identification game with a youngster at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, is the seventh largest insect collection in North America and houses a global collection of eight million specimens, plus a live petting zoo (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects, tarantulas and more) and an insect-themed gift shop.

Founded in 1946 by the late Professor Richard "Doc" Bohart (1913-2007), the museum is directed by Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair of Systemics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and the executive associate dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES). The previous director was UC Davis Distinguished Emerita Lynn Kimsey, who directed the Bohart Museum for 34 years until her retirement on Feb. 2, 2024. She continues her Hymenoptera research and as director of the Bohart Museum Society and editor of the quarterly. newsletter.

The next open houses, all free and family friendly:

Saturday, Feb. 21: The Bohart Museum will be open for the 15th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day, a campuswide event billed as a "Super Science Day." The participating museums or collections include the Nematode Collection and the Center for Plant Diversity, both in Katherine Esau Science Hall; UC Davis Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road. Arboretum and Public Garden; Botanical Conservatory; California Raptor Center on Old Davis Road; Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology in the Academic Surge Building; Paleontology Collection in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences; and Phaff Yeast Collection at the Robert Mondavi Institute Brewery and Food Processing Facility on Old Davis Road.

Sunday, March 15: "Eight-Legged Encounters," headed by arachnologists from the Jason Bond lab. Hours: 1 to 4 p.m.

Saturday, April 18: Campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day. The Bohart Museum will participate in an outside booth from 1 to 4 p.m. at Briggs Hall, home of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. At its booth, the Bohart Museum will feature its petting zoo. Hands-on activities will include how to net a (paper) butterfly.

Saturday, May 16: "Buzz Words: "Insects in Literature," 1 to 4 p.m.

For more information on the Bohart Museum, access the website or email [email protected].