Minutes from the 520th Meeting of the Connecticut
Entomological Society
May 15th, 2015
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station,
123 Huntington Street, New Haven, CT 06513
Pre-meeting potluck style dinner beginning at 6:00 pm at the Connecticut Agricultural Exp. Station.
Business meeting: President Brigette Zacharczenko called the meeting to order at
approximately 7:47 PM.
Reports: A PowerPoint summary of the 519th meeting was presented by President
Zacharczenko and approved as presented.
Vice President Melissa Bernardo read the minutes from the 519th meeting and
approved as read.
The treasurer’s report was read by Mike Montgomery and approved. Our expenses
have exceeded our income for this month and we have a total of 71 members.
Old business: No old business
New business:
 Representing the nominating committee was Leonard Munsterman who
presented Melissa Bernardo as Vice President , Gwen Antell as Secretary, and
Mike Montgomery as Treasurer. President Zacharczenko called for approval
and the slate was approved.
 Leonard explained that the President is yet to be decided, however, in two
weeks we will have an electronic vote for members on the website.
President Zacharczenko called for approval and the slate was approved.
 Finally, the nominating committee presented that the governing committee
as Marta Wells, Brigette Zacharczenko, Mike Thomas, and Bill Krinsky.
President Zacharczenko called for approval and the slate was approved.
 National moth week is July 18-26 and members are encouraged to discuss
whether we want to sponsor a Society event that week.
 July 24th and 25th there will be a bioblitz on the UConn Storrs campus with
events such as ant collecting (with Rob Clark) and sample curation demos
(with Brigette Zacharczenko) and black lighting.
Announcements:
 2 guests were announced, one of which was Kevin Fitxgerald, a free lance
science writer looking for material for the Entomological Society of America.

Erin McGrath was the second guest, an undergraduate at Wesleyan
University who became a member before the meeting officially started.
 Leonard Munstermann told us about an event by the Sleeping Giant Park
Association on Sunday, June 28 at 1:30 PM for an Insects-of-the Giant Hike
 Reminder to use the facebook page!
 Ideas were tossed around for a Citizens of Science project to teach middle
school kids how to be WaspWatchers this summer.
Exhibits:
 Matthew brought an orchid mantid and a salticid
 Ray brought saturniid moths
 There were also some maps of CT from the 1900s, 3 live insects, and
Lepidopteran books.
Evening Presentation:
Our speaker for the meeting was Rich Cech. He is an active field naturalist,
author and photographer, and is an affiliate curator at the Yale Peabody Museum of
Natural History in Entomology. The title of the talk was “How Butterflies Work –
and How They Survive”. The durability of butterflies over tens of millions of years
poses a challenge to those who believe that “survival of the fittest” is a matter of
tooth and claw – two biological features conspicuously absent in butterflies. Our
cultural impressions of butterflies are poorly aligned with the biological reality of
this unique group of organisms. Yet some features of butterfly existence, in
particular those that have long excited human imagination—such as their “merry
winged” flight and bright decorative patterns—offer subtle clues as to the
foundations of their evolutionary persistence.
Minutes by Melissa Bernardo