Meeting 1180 Minutes

Minutes from the 1180th Meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club

President Nate Edelman called the 1180th meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club to order at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, February 14th in MCZ 101.

Approximately 20 members and guests were in attendance.

Our speaker was Professor Joseph Elkinton of U/Mass Amherst discussing

Population Biology and Biological Control of Winter Moth in New England.

Beginning in the early 2000’s, winter moth, Operophtera brumata L., has caused widespread defoliation throughout our area. For the past 14 years, Prof. Elkinton and his team have been collecting data to understand what factors regulated the outbreak populations of winter moth.

Prof. Elkinton also discussed the European origins O. brumata and its hybridization with a native congener called Bruce spanworm, O. bruceata generally found in western Mass.

The tachinid fly parasitoid, Cyzenis albicans, is a WM specialist that has controlled WM elsewhere. Elkinton’ initial efforts at biocontrol began by collecting 120,000 potentially parasitized WM pupae in B. C. which resulted in 28,684 flies that were released at 10 sites. Since then, the flies have been released at 41 NE locations and have become established at 21 sites. Significant parasitism is now arising with documented declines of WM density, particularly in a population in Wellesley, which is now spreading to surrounding areas.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40pm for discussion and refreshments.

Respectfully submitted,

Andrea Golden, CEC Secretary