Meeting 1243 Minutes

Minutes from the 1243rd Meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club

The 1243rd meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club was called to order by President Sarah Dendy at 7:36pm on Tuesday, October 14, 2025. Approx.14 members and guests attended.

New business:

Amine Kousba was nominated for membership
Scott Smyers presented a recap of the summer outing to Mt. Washington
Brian Chan brought some of his origami insects plus a recently published book featuring origami insects

Old business:
Shraddha Lall was approved for membership

Our speaker was Katherine Angier, Harvard graduate student and former CEC president.
Her talk was entitled The role of natural salt licks in the spatial patterning of Afrotropical termite communities.

Over 3,000 species of termites perform crucial ecological roles as decomposers. They are the earliest eusocial insects and some Australian species create the largest animal-made structures. Termite diversity is highest in tropical rainforests and savannas, where they account for the majority of wood decomposition. Some termites also farm fungus and feed on soil. The environmental factors influencing patterns of community structure remain poorly understood. Kat discussed soil nutrients, and sodium in particular. As herbivores, termites have sodium needs that are orders of magnitude greater than is found in the plant material they consume. Kat’s work in the forest-savanna mosaics in the Republic of the Congo looked at links between termite communities and natural salt licks called bais, which are scattered throughout the landscape. She found that bais did not seem to benefit decomposition activity, but termites, including soil and fungus feeders, were more abundant near bais.

The meeting adjourned at 8:37Respectfully submitted, Andrea Golden, CEC Secretary