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Have you ever spotted a colorful dragonfly or a majestic monarch lying motionless along a road and thought "I'd sure love to take that home and preserve it?"

The Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Sunday, Oct. 5 involves just that.  The event,  themed "Museum ABCs: How to Collect and Curate," will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. It is free and family friendly. Parking is also free.

"We will take some of the mysteries out of entomology and the collecting-to-curating process," said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.

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"Visitors can learn the importance of entomology and collections, from the fundamentals to a collections-based research museum, Yang said. "We're going to show the process of what we do every day, and show them what they can do at home."

 "Finding a dead dragonfly, for instance, can make you appreciate nature and want to preserve it," Yang said. "It's just like people collecting pine cones or growing flowers to put in vases. It's an appreciation of nature."

Yang noted that for each specimen,  it's important to record the date and location. Hobbyists often omit that data, and collect specimens in jars, or glue them or pin them.

Collecting and preserving insect specimens was more popular a few decades ago, Yang said, but interest is growing.  Many insect enthusiasts post their images or check out other images on such sites as iNaturalist and BugGuide.net.

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Jeff Smith, curator of the Lepidoptera collection, and fellow Bohart Museum associate and naturalist Greg Kareofelas, will be answering questions about moths and butterflies, and discussing the collecting-to-curating process. 

UC Davis entomology students scheduled to staff the open house include Dylan Vega, a third-year entomology major; Emma "Em" Jochim, a doctoral candidate in the Jason Bond lab; and Kaitai Liu,  a first-year doctoral student in the Bond lab.

The family arts-and-crafts activity, a traditional part of every open house,  will involve pinning and labeling a replica of a bug.

"Visitors can choose to stay for 15 minutes or three hours," Yang commented. "There is no registration required. If you have questions, please contact bmuseum@ucdavis.edu."

The Oct. 5th open house is the first in a series of special events at the Bohart Museum for the 2025-26 academic year.  (See schedule and other information posted on Bug Squad)

Founded in 1946 by UC Davis Professor Richard "Doc" Bohart (1913-2007), the Bohart Museum houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live petting zoo (Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, tarantulas and more) and an insect-themed gift shop, stocked with T-shirts, hoodies, books, posters, jewelry and stuffed animals. 

Director of the Bohart is professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schindler Endowed Chair of Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and executive associate dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. 

UC Davis Distnguished Professor Emerita Lynn Kimsey, a former graduate student of Doc Bohart, directed the Bohart Museum for 34 years before her retirement in 2024. She continues to do research (specialty Hymenoptera) and write and edit the Bohart Museum newsletter.