But oh, the memories!
"Friends of the Bohart" annually host the fun-filled event. Members of the organization and their invited guests don costumes, munch on refreshments, cut a cake, and hit a pinata. Last year entomology doctoral student Charlotte Herbert Alberts and husband, George crafted a parasitoid pinata. (See Bug Squad blog)
The decorations? Think insect-themed pumpkins--or arthropod-themed pumpkins, as some depict spiders and bedbugs. (Arthropods are invertebrates with external skeletons and jointed legs.)
The Bohart crew, always innovative, puts art into science, and science into art. Their carved pumpkins are incredible. (See photos of some of the pumpkins they've carved in years past.)
The Bohart Museum (temporarily closed), is directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis. Located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus, it houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. It is also the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. In addition, it maintains a live "petting zoo," featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks or stick insects, tarantulas; and a year-around gift shop stocked with T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, posters, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
The staff includes Steve Heydon, senior museum scientist; Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator; and Jeff Smith, who curates the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) collection. Bohart associates include naturalist Greg Kareofelas, a regular at the open houses and especially in the Lepidoptera collection.
More information on the Bohart Museum is available on its website at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by contacting (530) 752-0493 or bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
Attached Images:
These three jack o'lanterns represent a butterfly, bee and dragonfly. They were among Halloween decorations at the Bohart Museum of Entomology's annual Halloween parties. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This carved pumpkin celebrates the order Hymenoptera (an order that includes bees, wasps and sawflies). Doctoral student Charlotte Alberts carved this one of a bee and honeycomb. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A spider graces this Bohart Museum of Entomology pumpkin. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
What, you've never seen a pumpkin with a bedbug theme? This is one of the pumpkins featured at a previous Halloween party at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Not all pumpkins at the previous Bohart Museum Halloween parties focused on insects. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis entomology doctoral student Charlotte Herbert Alberts and husband George are a big part of the Bohart Museum Halloween parties. Both are artists as well. Charlotte studies with major professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. With the couple: their Brittany spaniel, Westley. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Griffin, infant son of George and Charlotte Alberts, wasn't born in time for the 2019 Bohart Museum of Entomology Halloween party, but he's not missing out this year in family celebrations. He was born in April 2020. (Photo courtesy of George and Charlotte Alberts)