Meeting 1130 Minutes

Minutes from the 1130th Meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club

President David Lubertazzi called the 1130th meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club to order at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 at MCZ 101. Approximately 23 members and guests were in attendance.

New business: Jay Iwasaki and James Crall were nominated for membership.

Noah Charney, co-author of Tracks and Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates and one of last month’s speakers, successfully defended his PhD thesis at UMass/Amherst. Richard Primack of BU is looking for specimens and photos of lycenids, especially hairstreaks and elfins, for a climate change study.

The evenings’ speaker was Dr. Sean Mullen of the Department of Biology at Boston University. His talk was entitled The Origin and Maintenance of Mimetic Wing Pattern Variation in Butterflies.

The link between divergent natural and sexual selection of adaptive traits (e.g., mimicry in butterflies) and the origins of barriers to gene exchange between closely-related populations (i.e., speciation) can provide insights into the origin and maintenance of biological diversity. Dr. Mullen’s talk began with a discussion of hybrid zones and hybridization in Limenitis butterflies. Part two was a discussion of selection for mimicry in Limenitis and hybrid zone maintenance. Part three concerned the comparative genetics of mimetic wing pattern variation.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 for discussion and refreshments.

Respectfully submitted,

Andrea Golden, CEC Secretary