Welcome to campus, UW students!

Today is the first day of school at the University of Washington. Yesterday, to welcome students who are new to campus, the Burke Museum held the annual Chocolate Fair orientation event. About 900 UW students attended the Chocolate Fair and had the privilege of seeing special displays from the ethnology, archaeology, paleontology, genetic resources, mammalogy, fish, and spider collections. And of course, there was a chocolate fountain!

Fisheries

Ethnology

Fossil Prep

Mammalogy

It's good to have the campus buzzing with activity again!

Come see the ancient point found last year on UW campus

Just under a year ago, a UW freshman was working in a campus garden near the UW Botany Greenhouse when she stumbled upon a small artifact. She turned it over to the Burke Museum archaeology department who analyzed the artifact and determined it to be a stone projectile point between 4,000 and 7,000 years old. The discovery of the point is consistent with other archaeological data from around campus that show that Native American people lived on what are now the grounds of the University of Washington. Read the full story about the point and its discovery here.

There was quite a bit of media coverage about this point at the time of its discovery. Now the projectile point, along with a few other artifacts found near the Botany Greenhouse, are on display at the museum in a small case in the lobby. Come see the point for yourself – it will be on exhibit through early March 2011.

Posted by: Julia Swan, Communications

Photos from Bug Blast

Bug Blast this past Sunday was a smashing hit. The galleries were buzzing with kids and adults alike hoping to get their chance to hold a tarantula or pet a hissing cockroach and performances by the Bug Chef and Bee Boppin' Bugs singer Nancy Stewart were packed. The wonderful Lora Shinn took photos. To view all event photos, click here, but here are a few favorites:

Next up on the family event calendar: Ice Age Archaeology Day!

Beneficial Bugs

If you look closely around your backyard, you can catch a glimpse of the tiny household helpers that often go unnoticed—bugs. Many insects in Washington State pollinate our gardens, eat pests in our homes and reduce the need for pesticides we use in our yards.

One insect found throughout Western Washington that’s good for our homes is the ground beetle. There are numerous different species that reside in damp areas. As larvae and as adults, ground beetles eat slugs and snails that invade our backyards. Large mandibles (pinchers) help them eat a variety of large and small prey. They also eat what many consider to be garden and house pests, such as house fly maggots and cutworms.

An adult Common Black Ground Beetle, photo courtesy of Washington State University

Want these predacious ground beetles to live in your backyard? These nocturnal animals like to hide during the day, so providing logs, rocks and soil areas for ground beetles can result in them staying in your yard. Also, only use pesticides when necessary, and spray directly on the plants in jeopardy. Reducing pesticide use saves ground beetles, which reduces the need to use pesticides!

To learn more about the bugs in your backyard, come to the Burke Museum’s Bug Blast on Sunday, Sept. 19 from 10 am – 4 pm. You can see bugs, touch bugs, and even eat some chef-prepared bug dishes!

Posted by: Andrea Barber, Communications

Q: How dangerous are spiders to humans? Should I be scared about the spiders in my house?

The Burke Museum partners with the Seattle PI's Big Blog to answer commonly asked questions about the natural and cultural history of our region. Read past entries from the Ask the Burke column here.

The following was posted to the Seattle PI's Ask the Burke column on September 8.

Q: How dangerous are spiders to humans? Should I be scared of the spiders in my house?

A: House spiders prey on insects and other small creatures. They are not bloodsuckers and have no reason to bite a human or any other animal too large for them to eat. In any interaction between spiders and larger creatures like humans, the spiders are typically the ones to suffer.

Although almost all spiders are venomous, very, very few spider species have venom that can harm humans, dogs, or cats. The purpose of spider venom is to subdue the spider's prey, almost always insects. In brief, it's an insecticide. Spider venom does not exist to harm creatures, like humans, which are too large for spiders to eat, and in nearly all cases has little if any effect on humans.

A minority of spider species have venom that can cause localized pain in humans, like the venom of bees or wasps. Of around 50,000 spider species known, only about 25have venom capable of causing illness to humans. These species are called "medically significant" spiders. In most parts of the world, such as the Puget Sound area, no spiders with medically significant venom have much chance of being found in houses.

To find the answers to more frequently asked questions about spiders, visit our Spider Myths website.

Interested in spiders and insects? Come to Bug Blast at the Burke on Sunday, September 19!

New Curator of Genetic Resources and Herpetology Arrives!

At the beginning of this month the Burke Museum welcomed a new curator of genetic resources and herpetology to the museum, Adam Leaché. Adam first visited the Pacific Northwest in 1997 as a graduate student, when he attended his first major academic conference – the annual meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists – at the University of Washington. Over a decade later, he returns to Seattle with a brand new curatorial position at the Burke Museum and a joint appointment as an assistant professor of biology at the University of Washington.

New Burke curator of genetic resource and herpetology, Adam Leaché, poses with a Komodo dragon.

Dr. Leaché will oversee both the genetic resources collection and the herpetology collection (reptiles and amphibians) at the Burke Museum. He is already planning several collecting trips for the museum, including field trips to West Africa, Mexico, and the deserts of the American Southwest. Dr. Leaché is also particularly interested in expanding the catalogue of specimens collected in the National Parks of Washington State.

In addition to focusing on the growth of the genetic resource and herpetology collections, Dr. Leaché is enthusiastic about developing public outreach programs for the Burke. One of his hopes for his new position is to help bring funding to the museum for the development of exhibits and educational content about ecology and evolution studies.

Dr. Leaché’s own research is focused on systematics, phylogenetics, phylogeography, population genetics, and species delimitation. Over the last ten years, he developed an integrative research program exploring the evolution of North American fence lizards and horned lizards that has resulted in publications across a number of disciplines. During the winter quarter, Dr. Leaché will be teaching an applied phylogenetics course at the UW – a lab course that gives biology students the computational and bioinformatics skills necessary to organize and analyze genetic data.

The Burke is excited to have Adam Leaché on board!