Minutes from the 519th Meeting of the Connecticut
Entomological Society
April 15th, 2015
University of Connecticut
Biology and Physics Building
91 North Eagleville Road, Storrs, CT
Pre-meeting pizza and beverages were available to attendees beginning at 6:00 at Willington Pizza.
Business meeting: President Brigette Zacharczenko called the meeting to order at
approximately 7:54 PM.
Reports: Minutes from the 518th meeting were presented by Secretary Benedict
Gagliardi and approved as read.
The treasurer’s report was read by Mike Montgomery and approved. We are on
track for our spending goals. To date, our expenses consist of: program/speaekers
(31%), calendars (34%), and food (29%). The society currently has 69 members.
Old Business:
 Calendars are only $5!!!
New Business:
 None
Announcements:
 38 members 3 guests. Guests: Kyle Rosenberg (mom), Matt Nochisaki (mom)
 Next meeting: Annual Potluck at CAES May 15, Rich Cech will talk about
butterfly fitness
 National moth week is in July and planning for some events has already
begun
Exhibits:
 Kyle brought three ant colonies he has been raising
 Matt brought mantises
 Ray brought TX and NM leps and beetles form a Spring trip
Evening Presentation:
10 Minute Talks:
Joseph DeSisto
University of Connecticut, undergraduate
Centipedes in the Mist: A New Species from Southern Appalachia
Southern Appalachia is a biodiversity hotspot for many species including
salamanders and millipedes. Centipedes are arthropods with 15 or more pairs of
legs, a single pair per segment, and venom-injecting fangs. New species in a sample
sent by Dr. Bill Shear, Pearsobius sp. nov. To describe a new species, one must first
make sure the species is new, collect and identify more, and decide what characters
make the species unique (morphology, molecules and range). Next is to decide what
is the closest relative. For his species it is likely Pearsobius carolinus, but two other
genera are also related. Taxonomy is complicated. Important to collect many
specimen to understand variations and range. Joe is taking a collecting trip to WV
and NC this summer. Lastly, an author has to write and illustrate a description of the
new species. He plans to name it Pearsobius sheari after Dr. Shear.
Kat Culhane
Yale, undergraduate
Context dependence of lizard prey communities in the Greek archipelago
Research in Naxos island in Greece. Her lab was researching Podarcis erhardii
(Erhard’s wall lizard) and she focused on the insect that the lizards were eating
across different land types and vegetation covers. Her aim was to understand the
effect of habitat on available prey community and diet composition. Used pitfall
traps and sticky traps to sample the insect community and identified samples to
order level. Pumped stomach of lizard to induce vomiting and search stomach
contents. In many cases only the harder more chitinous parts of insects remained,
making even family level IDs difficult. Their results so far are that prey community
differed greatly with amount of vegetative cover.
Katie Taylor
University of Connecticut, PhD Student
Testing for interspecific hybridization in wild Chrysoperla carnea group lacewings
Katie discussed the effects of hybridization of Chryosperla spp. in the lab and also
how species are distinguished amongst morphologically similar complexes based on
song differences. Katie hopes to distinguish the relationships of north american
chrysopid species through a project she is currently developing. Katie plans to
collect lacewings on the west coast and identify individual species based on song
type. She will then preserve and extract DNA to later conduct a structure analysis to
assign genetic markers to genotypic groups. This will allow her to compare the
genes among lacewings to test for hybridization among species. This project will
have implications on the understanding of the evolutionary history of this group and
also because lacewings are of agricultural and economic significance.
Kevin Keegan
University of Connecticut, PhD Student
Saving the Metalmark in Connecticut
Kevin Keegan has embarked on an effort to preserve the Northern Metalmark
butterfly after he recently joined onto an ongoing nine year conservation project in
Connecticut. The Northern Metalmark is a butterfly that is globally and locally rare
due to the rare limestone (calcium carbonate) substrate that its populations persist
on. This substrate type has given rise to unique plant communities that the
Northern Metalmark requires. The Northern Metalmark habitat is under threat by
deer, invasive plant species, and development. Kevin described the hospitality of
residents living near metalmark habitat and their willingness to promote Metalmark
habitat in their backyard to facilitate gene flow between populations. Kevin
described the team effort to create new habitat for the Northern Metalmark with
CT-DEEP, NPS, Northeast utilities and a slew of other Non-profit organizations.
5 Minute Talks:
Matthew Nochisaki
High School Student
The Secret to Idolomantis
Matt began by talking about the sexual dimorphism of Idolomantis diabolica
focusing on their antennal differences. He then discussed the culture requirements
and the history of the species in culture in the United States. Matt progressed
through the stages of the species' life history and then ended by talking about the
conservation implications of importing and collecting wild oothecas. He also
expressed interest of breeding Idolos on a large scale to relieve the demand for wild
caught oothecas
Gwen Antell
Yale University, undergraduate
Stone Flies and Rock Crawlers: Fossil Insects form the Eocene
Gwen currently works on the fossil insect collaborative through the University of
Colorado with the Peabody Museum. Specifically she focuses on fossil insects from
the green river formation in the midwest (~ 50 million years ago in the Eocene).
During this time period the earth experienced excpetionally high CO2 levels and
average temperatures. Studying this time period has broad implications on how life
forms responded to climatic extremes considering the onset of climate change.
In her work she hopes to understand what insect communities thrived during this
time period and climate.
Anna Sjodin
Unviersity of Connecticut
The Bugs' Bugs: Understanding the Role of Blood-Feeding Insect Diversity in Disease
Transmission
Anna focused her talk on Chagas disease which is carried through the vector of
Triatomine bugs. Currently there is no cure and it is ultimately fatal through heart
failure. There are 8 million people affected in Bolivia so understanding the disease
ecology has widespread implications on human health. Anna discussed the dilution
effect which correlates biodiversity with human health in regards to the spread of
zoonotic diseases. Anna plans to visit bat caves in Bolivia to test arthropod
ectoparasites on bats to better understand the intricacies of diseases carried by
these vectors.
Raymond Simpson
Yale University, Phd Student
Memorable finds of the 2014 field season
Ray discussed the field sites he explored in 2014 and the interesting species of
lepidopterans that he encountered at these sites. Amazingly Ray collected over 300
species of moths at Sessions Woods alone in the 2014 field season! At Great
Mountain Forest Ray was able to collect 19 species of Catocala in one trip!
Results of 10 Minute Talks:
Kat Culhane- Runner Up
Katie Taylor- Third Place
Joe Desisto- Second Place
Kevin Keegan- First Place
Results of 5 Minute Talks:
Matthew Nochisaki- Runner Up
Raymond Simpson- Third Place
Anna Sjodin- Second Place
Gwen Antell- First Place
Note: corrections and additions to the minutes are welcomed. Please email
benedict.gagliardi@gmail.com.