Meeting 1161 Minutes

Minutes from the 1161st Meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club

President Jack Boyle called the 1161st meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club to order at 7:35 pm on Tuesday, November 11th in MCZ 101, 26 Oxford St. Approximately 18 members and guests were in attendance.

New business:

Old business:

Lisa Tewksbury and Benjamin Gluck were confirmed for membership.

Treasurer Patrick Gorring will send dues notices soon.

Scott Smyers is planning a spring trip to Long Lake in Littleton. More information to come.

Sebastian Pohl, currently a postdoc from the University of Melbourne, described work he carried out in upstate NY with the slave-making ant Protomognathus americanus and its host, Temnothorax sp.

How do ants manage collective decision-making? Protomognathus americanus workers focus on a single task: searching for and raiding host colonies to replenish their slave workforce. Single scouts search for colonies of their Temnothorax hosts, which are subsequently attacked by a group of raiding slavemaker workers. Scouts and raiders risk being killed by host workers defending their colony. Considering both the raiding risk and the potential benefit, slavemaker workers have to make several decisions: when to start scouting, whether or not to participate in scouting or raiding events, and whether a discovered host colony is worth attacking. I investigated the scouting behavior of P. americanus using a combination of behavioral observations and chemical analyses, in order to elucidate the course of these crucial interspecific interactions between a social parasite and its host.

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

Respectfully submitted,

Andrea Golden, CEC Secretary