Meeting 1246 Minutes

Minutes from the 1246th Meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club

The 1246th meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club was called to order by President Amine Kousba at 7:32pm on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. Approx.10 members and guests attended w/ 3 additional members on Zoom.

New business:
Amine proposed adding a second state insect to the current seven-spotted lady beetle. Submit nominations to Amine via email. Candidates will be voted on at the February meeting.
Scott Smyers is planning more White Mountain trips including lower elevation sites.

Old business:
Alina Liu and Remi Christiansen were approved for membership

Our speaker was Dr. Sofia Casasa of Boston University. Her talk was entitled “Phenotypic plasticity in horned beetles: regulatory mechanisms and evolution”.

Onthophagus horned dung beetles are a model system for studying the intersection of ecology with evolutionary developmental biology. They exhibit an extreme form of developmental plasticity, polyphenism. Nutrition is a factor in whether males develop as large, horned individuals (high nutrition) or small, hornless individuals. Horns in large males are used as weapons to gain access to females. Hornless males use a “sneaker tactic” to gain access to females. Dr. Casasa also discussed the role of maternal care and possible molecular mechanisms for reproductive strategies (work in progress)

The meeting adjourned at 8:34pm

Respectfully submitted,
Andrea Golden, CEC Secretary