Meeting 1160 Minutes
Minutes from the 1160th Meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club
President Jack Boyle called the 1160th meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club to order at 7:35 pm on Tuesday, October 14th in MCZ 101, 26 Oxford St. Approximately 28 members and guests were in attendance.
New business:
Jack mentioned that speaker slots are still open for March and April, and reminded members about email and membership information.
Bruno announced that the Ent Club now has a Facebook page, and Jonathan Rees reminded people about the Ent Club’s Google Group.
Old business:
Treasurer Patrick Gorring delivered the annual Treasurer’s report.
The club ended the year $79.10 ahead of last year, with total assets of $29,447.07
Ricardo Pérez-de la Fuente of Harvard University discussed his work in a talk entitled Fossil Insects: Learning about the Past.
Insects are a major source of environmental, ecological, and evolutionary information as archived in the geological record. Thanks to the efforts of Samuel Scudder in the 19th century and Frank Carpenter in the 20th century, the MCZ has one of the premier fossil insect collections worldwide, with over 30,000 specimens.
Ricardo’s talk focused on amber inclusions and new techniques to reconstruct the fossil insects within. After digging the amber out of the ground, it is separated from surrounding material by means of a concrete mixer. Selected pieces of amber are then polished. The insect inclusions are photographed, and ultimately a 3D computer model of the insect can be created. Among the insects Ricardo described were neuropterans, snakeflies, and thrips. One case study featured an animated reconstruction of the neuropteran larva, Hallucinochrysa diogenesi. Another study discussed how environmental conditions (in this case wildfires) can be inferred based on the abundance of certain insects (in this case snakeflies) and the abundance the amber itself, because fire tends to create ideal conditions for amber formation.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 for discussion and refreshments.
Respectfully submitted,
Andrea Golden, CEC Secretary
