The Bohart Museum of Entomology was founded in 1946 on the campus of the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...

. The museum is currently the seventh largest insect collection in North America with more than seven million specimens of terrestrial and freshwater arthropods. At least 90% of these holdings are insects. The collection is worldwide in scope with the

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Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, and

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particularly well represented.

Role

The principal roles of the museum are to support research at the graduate and undergraduate levels, informatics and diagnostics, and educational outreach. Areas of taxonomic specialization include the worldwide insect order Hymenoptera, freshwater non-insect arthropods, and California insect fauna. Professor Emeritus of entomology Richard M. Bohart was the museum's founder and principal contributor. In 1986 the museum was named in his honor.Bohart Museum website homepage
/ref> The museum is closely tied to the Entomology Department at

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

and provides research support for the department. This role is particularly important for the faculty of biological control and

medical entomology The discipline of medical entomology, or public health entomology, and also ''veterinary entomology'' is focused upon insects and arthropods that impact human health. Veterinary entomology is included in this category, because many animal disease ...

groups. The museum also houses teaching insect collections for undergraduate level entomology courses taught on campus.

Specimen collection

Each year an average of 30,000 newly acquired specimens are added to the collection. These specimens come from museum based field studies, university faculty, and student research programs. There is also a considerable number of specimens donated to the museum from the members of the Bohart Museum Society and the external community. 7,400 specimens from the museum are estimated to be on loan each year to domestic and international researchers. Local, national, and international researchers use the museum's collection materials in at least 18 publications per year in addition to the high publication activity of the university staff and associates. An average of 12,000 visitors come to the Bohart Museum each year. Jessica Holding Drawer

References

{{Coord missing, Yolo County, California University of California, Davis campus 1946 establishments in California Entomological organizations Museums established in 1946 Museums in Yolo County, California Natural history museums in California University museums in California