Go, bugs!
Are you ready for the bugs?
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology (ENT) is ready to participate in the 112th annual campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day, set Saturday, April 18.
At UC Davis Picnic Days, bugs are not only invited--they're escorted!
The ENT "stars of the show" will include cockroaches, flies, mosquitoes, bees, tarantulas, spiders, stick insects, hornworms, lady beetles, nematodes and more. Favorite crowd pleasers include the traditional cockroach races ("Run, Roaches, Run!") and maggot art ("Crawl, Maggots, Crawl!")
The bugfest all takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Briggs Hall--in Rooms 122 and 158; in the courtyard; and on the grounds.
Co-chairs of ENT's Picnic Day committee are UC Davis Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) member Grace Horne, a doctoral candidate in the lab of urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, associate professor, and Marshall McMunn, assistant professor of teaching.
New this year will be origami insect art, coordinated by McMunn; and a wetlands restoration exhibit headed by ENT medical entomologist and geneticist Geoffrey Attardo, associate professor.
EGSA will be selling its student-designed T-shirts and stickers near the entrance of Briggs. The official EGSA Picnic Day 2026 shirt is "Product of Migration," featuring migratory insects. "It was primarily drawn by Veronica Casey, a doctoral candidate in the nematology lab of Shahid Siddique," Horne said, adding that it was a collaborative effort between Veronica; El Robeck, a second-year entomology PhD student in the lab of Professor Chris Barker; and Carla Cristina "CC" Edwards, a doctoral candidate in the Attardo lab.
The color: light blue. It will be sold as a T-shirt and a long-sleeve shirt. It also will be among the stickers for sale in the EGSA booth. EGSA sells T-shirts and stickers throughout the year on its website.
Second-place in the EGSA design contest went to Olivia Lopez, a first-year entomology PhD student in the lab of Professor Fumika Hamada of the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior. Her design, "Picnic Day with Pals," is also a sticker.
EGSA's best-selling T-shirt is "The Beetles," a take-off of the cover of The Beatles' Abbey Road album, which shows John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star crossing Abbey Road in single file. The EGSA shirt shows four beetles (family names Phengogidae, Curculionidae, Cerambycidae and Scarabaeidae) crossing Abbey Road in single file.
Other popular T-shirts include Entomo Gothic (a play on the American Gothic), Whip Scorpion, Bee Haw, Barbie Bugbie (a pink moth) and They See Me Rollin' (dung beetles).
The Bohart Museum of Entomology will set up a pop-up tent on the Briggs Hall grounds that day. (The Bohart headquarters in the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane will be closed.) From 1 to 4 p.m., you can check out the "Oh, My" specimen drawers; meet-and-greet (and hold) Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects from the live petting zoo; and try your hand at netting a paper butterfly.
For a complete list of what ENT is doing on UC Davis Picnic Day--and what bugs have been invited--see the department website at https://entnem.ucdavis.edu/news/uc-davis-picnic-day-lets-go-bugs
Cover image: A monarch-themed banner on Briggs Hall, home of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, on UC Davis Picnic Day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)