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| Advisor-coach Larry Godfrey (at head of table) directs questions at a Linnaean Games scrimmage. On the far side of the table are (from left) graduate students Matan Shelomi, Meredith Cenzer, Emily Symmes and Melody Schmid. At right are graduate students Emily Bzdyk and Andrew Merwin. (Photos by Kathy Keatley Garvey) |
| (News Flash: The UC Davis Linnaean team will be competing in the nationals. The UC Davis team beat UC Riverside at the Linnaean Games at the Pacific Branch of the Entomolological Society on April 12, 2010 and then went on to win second behind Washington State University. PBSEA will send the two top teams to the national competition at the ESA meeting, Dec. 12-15 in San Diego.) |
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DAVIS--“Name the family for water boatman.”
“Cantharophily is an insect-flower syndrome where plants are pollinated by
what group of insects?”
“What term is used to describe the invasion of living tissues by fly larvae?” (Answers at end of story)
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| Forensic entomolgoist Bob Kimsey ponders the question. |
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| Graduate student Matan Shelomi considers the correct answer. |
Those are just three of the questions the UC Davis Department of Entomology graduate-student team answered in preparation for a regional college-bowl type of competition.
The department will send a five-member graduate student team to compete in the Linnaean Games of the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) on Monday, April 12 in Boise.
The team is comprised of Melody Schmid, Meredith Cenzer, Matan Shelomi and Emily Symmes, all in the doctorate program, and Andrew Merwin, who is in the master’s program. Extension entomologist Larry Godfrey, UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty, serves as their advisor and coach.
The Linnaean Games is a college-bowl type of quiz on entomological facts, covering apiculture, biological control, ecology, economic entomology, medical and veterinary entomology, physiology and biochemistry, taxonomy and toxicology, as well as the history of entomology and biographical information on prominent entomologists.
Schmid studies with major professors and medical entomologists Greg Lanzaro and Anton Cornel. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Colorado College.
Cenzer studies ecology with major professor and community ecologist Louie Yang. She received her bachelor of science degree in entomology and entomology from the University of Florida.
Shelomi studies with major professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. He received his bachelor’s degree in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard.
Symmes studies with major professor and integrated pest management specialist Frank Zalom. She received her bachelor’s degree in entomology from UC Riverside.
Merwin studies with major professor Michael Parrella, chair of the Department of Entomology. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology, with a minor in chemistry, from California State University, Long Beach, and a bachelor of arts degree in Spanish from UCLA.
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| Extension entomologist Larry Godfrey directs a question. |
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| Andrew Merwin responds to a question. |
Coach Godfrey is no stranger to the Linnaean Games. He was a member of the University of Kentucky championship team. His team competed in the second annual Linnaean Games (second annual in the North Central Branch of ESA where the games orginated).
“It was a few years before the other branches started this competition and several years before they did it at the national meeting,” said Godfrey, who received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Purdue and his doctorate from the University of Kentucky.
Purdue professors Tom Turpin (Godfrey’s major professor) and Rich Edwards launched the Linnaean Games at the North Central Branch, ESA, and then several years later, took the games to the national level. Last year the University of Illinois won the national championship.
The Pacific Branch will send its first and second-place teams to the national competition, to be held during the annual ESA meeting, set Dec. 12-15 in San Diego.
To prepare for the Linnaean Games, the UC Davis team is seeking scrimmages with entomologists, faculty and students before they head to Boise. For information on the next session, contact Godfrey at (530) 752-0473 or ldgodfrey@ucdavis.edu.
On March 17, forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey and graduate students Andrew Merwin and Emily Bzdyk (major professor Lynn Kimsey) squared off with Symmes, Schmid, Cenzer and Shelomi in a nip-and-tuck competition in the 366 Briggs conference room.
Answers:
1. Corixidae
2. Beetles
3. Myiasis |
See YouTube for 2009 competition. The games are named for Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), the father of modern taxonomy.
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--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
