An astonishing diversity of beautiful pollinator fauna exists in our county-from workhorse polylectic species (those that pollinate many plant species) such as bumble bees (Bombus spp. ) to oligolectic species (those that pollinate a small number of species) such as a small gold-colored andrenid bee that may only pollinate Fremont's star lily (Zigadenus fremontii var. minor) . In this presentation, local naturalist Randy Morgan and UCSC Museum of Natural History curator Chris Lay will introduce some of our most charismatic, field-identifiable, and uniquely evolved local pollinators from Hymenoptera (bees), Diptera (flies), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), and other groups. Morgan and Lay will relate insect diversity to our county's rich botanical diversity with Morgan's pictures from many of our locally rare plant communities. In addition, many specimens from both Morgan's insect and plant collections will be available to examine more closely.

Renowned local naturalist and California Native Plant Society (CNPS) fellow Randy Morgan spent ten years amassing an exhaustive collection of local pollinators and other insects of Santa Cruz county. From 1989 to 1999, Morgan collected approximately 80,000 insects from thirty-nine different county locations including coastal prairie, coastal dune, riparian, maritime chaparral, and sandhill chaparral. Morgan meticulously sampled each collection site once every three weeks for an entire year and in some cases visited a site over multiple years. At each site, he visited representatives of every plant species known to occur there, and collected every insect that he found on or near each plant. For each collected specimen, he recorded which plant species each insect was collected from, and at each site kept detailed notes on plant phenology throughout the year.

Morgan's insect collection is an immense resource for future plant and pollinator conservation, scientific research, and public education. In 1993, Morgan published a description of a new species of tiger beetle (Cicindela ohlone) known only to occur in several small patches of coastal grassland in Santa Cruz county. His efforts led to the eventual recognition of the Ohlone tiger beetle as a federally endangered species. Fortunately, with the help of many community members and organizations, publishing additional important discoveries from his collection is on the near horizon.

Currently, Morgan's collection now resides at the University of California, Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History Collections (MNHC). Together, Morgan and Lay have been working to begin analyzing some of the data associated with the collection. With the help of the CNPS local Santa Cruz chapter, many insect taxonomists from around the world, UCSC graduate and undergraduate students, and community volunteers, Morgan and Lay aim to gain a much more

The University of California, Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History Collections welcomes anyone wishing to volunteer or support continued work on this important local collection.

A field trip to the MNHC to see Morgan's entire collection and other collections will happen on Saturday, March 13 from 10am to 12pm.

Contact: Chris Lay, 459-4763

Location: The MNHC is located on Science Hill in room 239 of the Natural Sciences 2 Building at UCSC. The nearest available parking is the Core West Parking Structure (about a 5 minute walk from MNHC). UCSC parking maps can be found at: http://maps.ucsc.edu/cdcommon.html

Sign-ups for this trip will happen after the presentation. Anyone not attending the presentation is also welcome to attend the field trip.