Meeting 1244 Minutes

Minutes from the 1244th Meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club

The 1244th meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club was called to order by President Amine Kousba at 7:32pm on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. Approx.19 members and guests attended w/ 7 additional members on Zoom.

New business:
Stef Linden was nominated for membership\
Amine has set up a FaceBook group, a Discord channel, and revived the CEC FaceBook page.
Jay Shetterly brought a case of Australian tiger beetles and reminded attendees about membership dues

Old business:
Amine Kousba was approved for membership

Our speaker was Dr. Richard Pollack, Senior Environmental Public Health Officer for Harvard University. His talk was entitled Arthropod injuries & infestations: The real and the imagined.

People are frequently burdened by bites, stings, infestations, and irritations from insects and other arthropods. Ectoparasitic arthropods include various flies, lice, bees, and ants, other culprits can be viruses, bacteria, protozoans, and more.
Rich presented an entertaining who-dun-it of possible scenarios and potential culprits.
He also covered indications of entomophobia and parasitosis and how to handle tick bites. Rich concluded with a case study of northern fowl mites found in birds’ nests, and a child whose favorite blanket was infested with dermestid beetle larvae.

The meeting adjourned at 8:59pm

Respectfully submitted,
Andrea Golden, CEC Secretary