Meeting 1146 Minutes

Minutes from the 1146th Meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club

President Patrick Gorring called the 1146th meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club to order at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 in MCZ 101. Approximately 22 members and guests were in attendance.

New business: Patrick reminded everyone that membership dues are due.
Old business: Jay Shetterly announced that as of the December meeting he has been a CEC member for 50 years.

Gary Alpert and Piotr Naskrecki presented an illustrated talk entitled Exploring insect biodiversity in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique.

Drs. Alpert and Naskrecki accompanied E. O. Wilson and others to Gorongosa National Park last May to photograph, collect and document ants, katydids, and other arthropods.

Gorongosa is geologically and ecologically diverse. Once famous for its wildlife, the park’s animals were decimated during Mozambique’s civil war. NGO’s and philanthropists are funding efforts to restore wildlife and establish a scientific base at Gorongosa, including a research lab named for E. O. Wilson. Poaching is still common and the area remains dangerous. Lions numbered around 1500 before the war, now about 50 are estimated to live within the park. Crocodiles are numerous and, along with the lions, can hamper field work.

Gary’s field work yielded a total of 691 ant species, up from the last tally of 105 sp.
Meanwhile, Piotr found 45 species of katydids, up from 28 previously recorded. Among the novelties were a katydid with chemical defenses and an ant-mimic larval katydid.

Representative specimens from the MCZ collection supplemented the talk.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 for discussion and refreshments.

Respectfully submitted,
Andrea Golden, CEC Secretary