"B" Stands for "Boo" at Bohart Museum of Entomology

When the Bohart Museum Society hosts its annual pre-Halloween party at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, you'll never know what you'll see. This year:

• A couple disguised as a moth and a lamp
• A red-wigged Mrs. Roper from the hit sitcom, "Three's Company"
• A forensic entomologist in a ghillie suit serving beverages
• A Black Butler antagonist character named Kagetane Hiruko

But most people came as themselves--minus the costumes.

Reminiscent of a moth to a flame, UC Davis entomology alumnus Felix Duley came as a moth, and his partner, Nico Lauer, as a lampshade. 

Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum dressed as Mrs. Roper (Audra Lindley who played Helen Roper on "Three’s Company"). 

Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey, who retired last year as a lecturer in the Department of Entomology and Nematology, wore his traditional ghillie suit as he served beverages 

UC Davis alumna Juliana Campos, who seeks to become a physician, said "My costume is of a guy named Kagetane Hiruko from the anime series Black Butler. It’s not a super popular anime but I enjoyed it personally. He’s one of the main antagonists and later helps out the good guys although is never really good himself. I just like the character because of the outfit and the mask really, I usually wear costumes with masks, like last time with the plague doctor."

UC Davis Distinguished Professor Emerita Lynn Kimsey topped  her attire with an authentic Australian hat, the same hat that her colleague Dick Meyer happened to wear. Both studied for their doctorate with major professor Richard Bohart, for whom the museum is named. Kimsey retired last year after serving 34 years as director of the Bohart Museum, but continues to head the Bohart Society, do research, and write and edit the Bohart Society newsletter. Meyer, a retired public health entomologist and Bohart associate known as "The Mosquito Guy," retired as assistant manager of the Orange County Vector Control Agency. He and his wife, Shawn, made the trip from Bakersfield.

Professor and arachnologist Jason Bond, director of the Bohart Museum whose multiple hats include Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the Department of Entomology and Nematology, and executive associate dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, was unable to attend but his framed image did.

When Kimsey, Yang and Professor Fran Keller of Folsom Lake College and a UC Davis entomology lecturer, cut the spider-themed cake, they passed a piece of cake--the spider decoration--to his image.

Bond, unable to attend the event, was researching darkling beetles with his doctoral student Iris Quayle in the Namib Desert of southwestern Africa. Quayle, who is based at the Gobabeb Desert Research and Training Center for several months, is working on her dissertation, "A Timely Examination of the Trait Evolution, Phylogenetics, and Ecology of the Charismatic Namib Darkling Beetle Genus Onymacris (Coleoptera:Tenebrionidae)." The research includes "the genetic underpinnings,  of 'white' coloration in this desert and a generic revision for Onymacris.”   

The Halloween celebrants admired a soldier beetle (Cantharidae) pumpkin, carved by Oliver Smith, UC Davis Entomology Club president, and a rain beetle (Pleocomidae) pumpkin carved by fellow club member Dylan Vega.

Bohart Society Membership

Membership in the Bohart Museum Society is open to all interested persons. Membership rates are $25 per year for an individual; $15 for students; $40 for family; and $100 for patron. There is also the endowment level (any amount accepted),

The benefits of membership include: 

• Subscription to the Bohart Museum Society newsletter, "mailed to you quarterly, as well as the electronic news emailed to you periodically," Lynn Kimsey relates.
• Invitation to special events, such as the Halloween Open house
• Member discounts on gift shop merchandise
• Access to the collections, and free information and identification services from staff
• Museum library use

There's also a "donate" button on the Bohart Museum Society website.