Minutes from the 514th Meeting of the Connecticut
Entomological Society
October 17, 2014
Yale University
Kline Geology Auditorium
210 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06513
Pre-meeting pizza, wraps, salads, and beverages were available to attendees beginning at 6:30 pm at the Geology
Building
Business meeting: President Brigette Zacharczenko called the meeting to order at
approximately 7:45 PM (the late start was the result of Leonard Munstermann
graciously taking a group of members to visit the Division of Entomology’s museum
collection and curating lab).
Reports: A PowerPoint summary of the 513th meeting was presented by President
Zacharczenko and approved as presented.
Vice President Melissa Bernardo read the minutes. Upon adding the number of
attendees to the 513th meeting (26 members and 10 guests) the minutes were
approved.
The treasurer’s report was read by Mike Montgomery and approved. Mike
reminded us of due collections and calendar funds. Also, he reported the possibility
of fermented honey and cricket bars for the next meeting!
Old business: The Society’s Facebook page and website (www.CTEntSoc.org) are
open to all members who wish to blog entomological stories, share photos, ask for
species identifications, plan collecting trips, etc. President Zacharczenko urged
members to utilize this developing resource to stay connected with members
outside of meetings. She also reminded us to send in our favorite insect photo to
participate in the photo contest for this year’s calendar. Finally, she prompted
anyone who participated in the aphid and bacterial symbiont survey to send in their
collections.
Old/new business: Oddly enough, we had the same number of photo submissions
this year as we did for last year’s calendar contest. We are urged to get online and
vote for our favorite submissions! Voting ends on October 21.
New business: The opening of “The Hidden Life of Ants” had a great turn out from
members and guests. If you didn’t get to see the exhibit it is still available to enjoy
on the first floor of the Yale Peabody Museum in the temporary exhibition hall.
Announcements/Exhibits:
 Stan Malcolm showed us some beautiful photos of a giant swallowtail
caterpillar and was hoping to not miss pupation while at the meeting. He
also showed us a brochure for the Air Line Trail, a 25 mile trail going from
East Hampton, thru Colchester and Lebanon.
 Raul Ferreira showed us some pictures from Perry Natural Area in
Stonington, CT. He showed us some beetle bait trap pictures, and the
American burying beetle.
 Matthew Nochisaki had a Tiger moth caterpillar and some beautiful mantids.
 Speaker, Claire Rutledge brought some cool exhibits for her talk such as
samples of wood with emerald ash borer damage, the incredibly hard to see
exit holes, and samples of the ingenious contraptions used to release
biological controls agents (parasitoid wasps) into the field such as the
OOBINATOR for Oobius agrili.
I apologize for not catching the member’s names for the following exhibits:
 Commercially harvested scorpion
 Adult Ailanthus web worms fluttering around
 Common true katydid, and shared a book about types of longhorn beetles
 Female Chinese Mantis
Evening Presentation:
Our speakers for the meeting were Kirby Stafford, and Claire Rutledge who
are both from the Department of Entomology at the Connecticut Agricultural
Experiment Station (CAES). The title of the talk was “Response to Emerald Ash
Borer in Connecticut”, and together the speakers discussed the ways in which
Connecticut is responding to the threat of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).
Kirby, currently the Vice Director, Chief Scientist, and State Entomologist at
the CAES spoke to us first about the temporal movement of EAB in the US and more
specifically the journey this pest has made across CT. He informed us of the
regulatory responses and the states legal responses to the devastating damage done
so far and the effort being made to contain the spread and educate the population of
the invasion.
Claire, scientist at the CAES, spoke to us more about the biological aspect of
the invasion. She taught us a bit about the ecology of the EAB, and the extent of the
damage they are capable of. Claire also told us about the Cerceris surveillance
program, which uses a native solitary digger wasp, Cerceris fumipennis as a
detection tool for emerald ash borer and other invasive buprestid beetles by
incorporating citizen-scientists (the Wasp Watchers). Lastly, Claire brought us up to
date with the current direction of biological control agents (parasitoid wasps)
including release sites and success rates.
Minutes by Melissa Bernardo