Wear your favorite insect costume. Show off your insect tattoo.

When the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis hosts its pre-Halloween open house from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 30, it promises to be a "blood-suckin' good time."

And it's free and open to the public.

One of the highlights will be an insect costume contest. A prize will be awarded to the "best dressed insect" under 6; ages 7-12, 13 to 18, and adults. Judging will be based on creativity and originality, said Tabatha Yang, the Bohart Museum's education and outreach coordinator.

In addition, a prize will be awarded to the best overall insect tattoo, Yang said.

Another special event is the 3:15 p.m. mosquito pinata bashing. The pinata is the work of Brittany Nelms, a PhD student within the Entomology Graduate Group with a designated emphasis in Vectorborne Diseases (she studies with William Reisen of the Center for Vectorborne Diseases).  The pinata will be filled with candy and some insect toys, Yang said.

Among the "blood bugs" on display will be mosquito, bed bug and biting fly specimens. (Not to worry--they're specimens; they're not alive.)

Located at 1124 Academic Surge on California Drive, the Bohart Museum houses a global collection of more than seven million insect specimens and also maintains a live “petting zoo” with such residents as Madagascar hissing cockroaches and walking sticks.

The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, launched its series of weekend openings for the fall season on Saturday, Sept. 24 with “Catch, Collect and Curate: Entomology 101.”

When the Bohart Museum Society throws a Halloween party, you can bet bugs will be there.

In costume.

Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, located at 1124 Academic Surge on California Drive, UC Davis campus, knows that a Halloween party isn't a party without the appropriate butterfly, ladybug and honey bee costumes.

After all, the museum houses a global collection of more than seven million specimens (and some live insects, including Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas).

The Bohart Museum Society party, held tonight (Thursday), drew scores of costumed folks who enjoyed the camaraderie, the refreshments, the gift shop, the specimens and the "live petting zoo." Toward the end, they took time to bash a mosquito pinata, made by Brittany Nelms, a PhD student within the Entomology Graduate Group with a designated emphasis in Vectorborne Diseases.  William Reisen of the Center for Vectorborne Diseases, serves as her major professor.

Mosquitoes are meant to be bashed.

UC Davis entomology graduate student Emily Bzdyk arrived as a butterfly, with her face intricately painted. Entomology graduate student Danielle Wishon, who studies with forensic entomologist Bob Kimsey and won the 2011 UC Davis Undergraduate Award in Entomology, selected a maggot theme.

Noted insect photographer Tom Roach of Lincoln dressed as a cuddly bug, complete with red buggy glasses and spider epaulets. Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, attired as himself on a collecting trip, carried an insect net filled with stuffed toy animals (bees) and called them "undescribed species."

Forensic entomologist Bob Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology dressed in a ghillie suit.  And his wife, Lynn, the museum director and professor of entomology? She followed through with an Alcatraz theme (Bob does fly research on Alcatraz and is known as the "Fly Man of Alcatraz.")

When it was all over, Honey Lovers candy donated by Gimbal's Fine Candies of San Francisco, spilled out of the split mosquito pinata as the eager crowd dashed for the goodies.

On Sunday, Oct. 30, the Bohart Museum will host a free pre-Halloween open house for the public. It will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. Prizes will be awarded to the best insect costumes (youth and adult divisions) and the best insect tattoo.

And, oh, yes, there will be another blood-sucking mosquito to bash in the form of a pinata.

If you don't know what it is, don't kill it.

That insect in your garden could very well be a beneficial insect.

If you operate on the "shoot-first-ask-questions later" or "the only good bug is a dead bug," no telling how many insects--and generations--you'll be destroying.

Butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, tells this story that's worth remembering.

"Last week I was walking across Capitol Park in Sacramento when I observed a smartly dressed young woman in her 20s stomp a praying mantis and grind it into the sidewalk. She exclaimed to her phenotypically similar friend: 'Did you ever see such an ugly, icky bug?'"

And, many years ago, Shapiro encountered a man in College Park, Davis, in the act of stomping a Tiger Swallowtail.

Shapiro asked him why he was doing this.

The man replied: "This is the bug that has the big green caterpillar that eats my tomato plants!"

When Shapiro told him it wasn't, the man told him to check his information, and that "I'm right and you're wrong."

There is indeed a lot of misinformation and misidentification out there.

Tabatha Yang of the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis relates the story about an avid gardener who absolutely loved ladybugs (aka lady beetles) because of their voracious appetites for aphids. But when our avid gardener came across "some weird black and orange bugs," she promptly killed them.

Little did she know that she was killing immature ladybugs.

Then there's the story about a UC Master Gardener who encountered a "green-eyed  golden bumblebee-like" insect that frightened her because it buzzed so loudly around her flower beds. So, she killed it. Turns out it was a pollinator, a male Valley carpenter bee, also known as a "teddy bear."

And, can you imagine what goes through people's minds when they meet up with a Jerusalem cricket in the mud after a rain? Whoa! Bug-o-mania!

Here's where the Bohart Museum, 1124 Academic Surge on California Drive, UC Davis campus, can help. If you live in California and see an insect and wonder if it's beneficial insect or a pest--or just want to know what it is--take a photo of it and email it to the Bohart. Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum (home of more than seven million specimens) and professor of entomology at UC Davis, identifies insects in between research, teaching, administering the Bohart Museum, and other duties. Her email address: lskimsey@ucdavis.edu.

In fact, if you go to the UC Davis Department of Entomology home page and scroll down to the bottom you'll see:

"Do you have an insect question? Ask It Here!"

Maybe, just maybe, this will save a few praying mantids, ladybugs, Valley carpenter bees and Jerusalem crickets.

The locusts are coming! The locusts are coming!

No, not the one below, a banded-winged grasshopper (family Acrididae and subfamily Oedipodinae) that we spotted west of the UC Davis campus--and identified by Steve Heydon, senior museum scientist at the Bohart Museum of Entomology.

These particular locusts will be something you've never seen before--and will probably always remember. 

Sculptor Cyrus Tilton will display his work in a solo exhibition titled The Cycle that runs Oct. 4-29 in the Vessel Gallery, 471 25th St., Oakland. He's created a kinetic locust swarm and two 11-foot sculptures of mating locusts. 

Morphologically correct, too.

Tilton will unveil his work at a press preview party on Saturday, Oct. 1. Until then, it's a surprise, but the photo below (of the work in progress) gives you a glimpse of what's to come.

Who is Tilton? He's an Oakland-based artist and the art director of the Scientific Art Studio in Richmond. His work includes a bas-relief of Barry Bonds' 500th home run. A 1998 graduate of the Art Institute of Seattle, Tilton was born in Palmer, Alaska in 1977 and spent his early years in a one-room cabin near Anchorage. His parents, he recalls, embodied the "back-to-nature movement" of the 1960s. 

The Cycle "explores the parallels between locust swarms and humanity's habits of mass consumption and overpopulation, throiugh sculpture and site-specific installation," says Vessel Gallery director Lonnie Lee.

Of his work, Tilton says:  "I am making a huge generalization but a lot of people I know work in offices and behind computers. I am not judging them because people have to make a living. But are we becoming more like insects? When I drive by an apartment building, I can’t help but see it as a hive. Seems like compartments for individuals to live in. We are connecting to one another in ways that look to me like we’re worker bees or worker ants, feeding the queen ant. Are we more insect-like in our behavior? And is that bad? Or maybe we are closer to insect hierarchies than we like to think.”

Lee describes Tilton's work as "a fine example of an artist who taps into the collective subconscious of humanity. The Cycle reveals the self-defeating and contradictory behaviors of society. Most will be moved to discomfort and reflection. Hopefully the audience will experience both an internal shift and a change of behavior. I urge everyone to see this show, as being enveloped by a giant locust swarm just might open pathways to our salvation.” 

Fifty percent of the net sales of "Individuals" (the site-specific kinetic installation) will benefit the Alameda Food Bank.

Admission to show, which can be viewed Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Oct. 4-29, is free. A reception is set Friday, Oct 7 from 6 to 9 p.m. In addition, Tilton will talk about his work from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, discussing his processes, thoughts, and approach toward creating this body of work.

"Are we insect-like in our behavior?"

"Are we like worker bees or worker ants?"

The Cycle should prod us to ponder those questions.

It all begins at the Bohart.

The Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis, that is.

Officials at the museum, located at 1124 Academic Surge on California Drive, have just announced the complete list of weekend openings for the 2011-2012 academic year. They'll all be held on either a Saturday or Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.

And they're all free.

The first of the 10-series weekend openings, set Saturday, Sept. 24, will focus on “Catch, Collect and Curate: Entomology 101.”

“There will be collecting devices set-up outside and inside, so people can see how they are used,” said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. “People will have the chance to practice pinning common insects--dead ones!--that we will provide until supplies run out. “

Visitors will have a opportunity to access the Bohart computers to see the video clips on  “How to Make an Insect Collection,” the work of UC Davis professor James Carey’s entomology class last spring. The entire series, totaling 11 clips ranging in length from 32 seconds to 77 seconds, can be viewed in just less than 10 minutes. (See news story with link to video clips)

So, on Sept. 24 at the Bohart Museum, high school and college students in science courses can learn how to create an insect collection, something required of them later this year.

The time to begin is now, Yang says.

Also, 4-H'ers enrolled in entomology projects will want to know how to do this, too. The session is open to all.

The special weekend openings complement the regularly scheduled weekday hours of the Bohart Museum. During the year, visitors can tour the Bohart between 9 a.m. and noon and 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday (except on holidays).

The Bohart Museum, home of more than seven million insect specimens (plus a live "petting zoo" of Madagascar hissing cockoaches and walking sticks and other critters), is a great resource.

Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, directs the Bohart Museum. She and the other scientists in the Bohart Museum make the study of insects not only educational but fun.

Here's what's on tap from Sept. 24 through June 3.