Meeting 1216 Minutes

President Katherine Angier called the 1216th meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club to order from her field site in Kenya at 7:37pm on Tuesday March 8th 2022. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting was held on Zoom. Approx. 25 members and guests were in attendance.

New business:

Hindawi, publisher of Psyche, the journal that originated at the CEC would like help in procuring new papers and will waive page fees for CEC members.

Scott Smyers is presenting a paper at the Northeast Natural History Conference on “The Value and Need for Regional Clubs and Societies Focused on Entomology or Botany” to be held in Albany NY on April 22-24. He welcomes input from other Club members.

Old business:

Evan Economo and Andrew Davies were approved for membership.

Our speaker was Zhengyang Wang, former President of the Ent Club and grad student in the Pierce Lab. His talk was entitled From Endangered Butterflies to Mummified Caterpillars: Journey of an Entomologist

Zhengyangdiscussed the life-history and movement ecology of three CITES-listed swallowtail butterflies in Asia and what he learned studying these rare butterflies. He noted that conservation policies tend to be focused on larger animals and are not tailored to the needs of insects, where protection of specific habitats and host plants are crucial to their survival.

In the second half of his talk, Zhengyang described the biology behind caterpillars and fungus of the Tibetan plateau. Collecting caterpillar fungus for medicinal purposes is profitable and an important part of household incomes in Tibet, and overcollecting and climate change are threats to its continuance. Zhengyang’s research found that an endophytic life stage of the entomophagous fungus infected multiple species of caterpillars through the plant roots they eat. His research suggests that preservation of their habitats is the best way to conserve them.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:42 pm.

Respectfully submitted, Andrea Golden, CEC Secretary