Bug Squad
Article

Magical Mantis Moments

UC Davis senior Sol Wantz, president of the UC Davis Entomology Club, showed this European mantis, a non-native mantis, that she collected on campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis senior Sol Wantz, president of the UC Davis Entomology Club, showed this European mantis, a non-native mantis, that she collected on campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It was a "Magical Mantis Kind of Day" when the Bohart Museum of Entomology hosted an open house last Sunday afternoon, Aug. 27, on praying mantises.
  • Tabatha Yang, the Bohart Museum's education and outreach coordinator, wore a green mantis costume to greet guests and show them the Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects in the live petting zoo
  • Guest Kevin Murakoshi of Davis  (UC Davis alumnus) gifted the museum with intricate origami mantises that he crafted from "mantis green" paper--one sheet per mantis.
  • Guest Ian Alexander Levin of Sacramento displayed his enlarged images of mantises, including one of a mantis eating a bee that drew "oohs" and "aahs."
  • Skylar Primavera, who studied praying mantises while attending UC San Barbara (bachelor's degree in biology, 2020) displayed a live mantis as well as life-cycle models (ootheca to the adult), and answered questions about the predatory insect.
  • Sol Wantz, UC Davis entomology senior and president of the UC Davis Entomology Club, displayed a European mantis that she borrowed from a UC Davis garden

Guests viewed display drawers of both native and non-native mantises. At least 9 species of mantises in California, according to one display.

Five are native:

  • The Arizona or bordered mantid (Stagmomantis limbata)
  • Bistanta mexicana
  • California mantid (Stagmomantis wheeleri=S. californica)
  • Litaneutria ocularis=Litaneutria obscura
  • Small gray mantid (Litaneutria pacfica)

Four are introduced:

  • Chinese mantid (Tenodera sinensis)
  • European mantid (Mantis religiosa)
  • Mediterranean mantid (Iris oratoria)
  • South African mantid (Miomantis caffra)

Tabatha Yang, Bohart Museum's education and outreach coordinator, dressed as a mantis for the open house. Here she answers questions about the insects in the live petting zoo, which include Madagascar hissing cockroaches and walking sticks. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Tabatha Yang, Bohart Museum's education and outreach coordinator, dressed as a praying mantis for the open house. Here she answers questions. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Meanwhile, Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum, and Brennen Dyer, collections manager, fielded questions from the crowd. The Lepidoptera crew of Jeff Smith (curator of the Lepidoptera collection), Greg Kareofelas and Brittany Kohler showed guests assorted butterfly specimens collected world-wide.  Bohart intern Melody Ruiz, a third-year entomology major at UC Davis, staffed the family arts-and-crafts activity on mantises.  

The underside of an origami praying mantis, the work of Kevin Murakoshi of Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The underside of an origami praying mantis, the work of Kevin Murakoshi of Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The next two fall open houses, free and family friendly, are from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23 and on Saturday, Nov. 4. The September open house is themed "Household Vampires." Think fleas, ticks and bedbugs! The November open house is on monarchs. Think iconic monarchs, milkweed and research.

The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live petting zoo and an insect-themed gift shop. The insect museum was founded in 1946 by Professor Richard Bohart of the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology).

(Editor's Note: Tomorrow's Bug Squad blog will feature the creative kids and the creative staffer at the family arts-and-crafts activity.)