Meeting 1236 Minutes

The 1236th meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club was called to order by Vice President Michael LaScaleia at 7:40pm on Tuesday, November 12, 2024. 10 members and guests attended with additional attendees on Zoom.

New business: Dues are due

Kiley Finnegan was nominated for membership

Old business: None

Our speaker was Dr.Damon Crook, insect chemical ecologist at (APHIS USDA). His talk was entitled “An overview of insect sensory systems and why we study them”

Dr. Crook works at the Forest Pest Methods Laboratory in Cape Cod, which provides research and tools for detection, survey and control of exotic pests. Beginning with an overview of insect sensory systems,

Damon described their work with the emerald ash borer, Asian Longhorn Beetle, and the coconut rhinoceros beetle,using electrophysiological methods. By attaching sensors to their antenna, Dr.Crook was able to measure the response of the insects to certain volatiles and/or pheromones, and to identify potential attractants for each insect. For emerald ash borer, volatiles from stressed trees were effective, for the Asian longhorn beetle, sexual pheromones collected from insect “body washes” yielded positive results, and for the coconut rhinoceros beetle, pheromones plus light trapping worked well.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:06

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Respectfully submitted,

Andrea Golden, CEC Secretary