The Wisconsin Entomological Society held its 2019 fall meeting on October 27th on the UW-Madison campus. The meeting drew nearly 20 members from various parts of Wisconsin and members shared stories over lunch before the start of the official meeting.
WES officers were reelected: Kyle Johnson (President), PJ Liesch (Vice President & WebMaster), Les Ferge (Treasurer), and Jordan Marche (Newsletter Editor). Thanks to these officers for their service to WES! The club also discussed holding more field trips in the future, so stay tuned to the website and Facebook page for updates.
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The fall WES meeting also featured a number of excellent talks by members.
Nancy Collins provided as update on her tree cricket research. In the last year, she travelled through several western states with help from a grant from the Orthopterist’s Society. Nancy also published a description of a new tree cricket species (Oecanthus mhatreae) with colleagues this year.
Mike Johnson (a high school teacher from Racine) gave an interesting glimpse into entomology at the high school level. Despite the sheer abundance and diversity of insects, biology textbooks have featured less entomology content over time and required curriculum items can make it challenging to teach about insects. Mike discussed some of the ways that he’s been incorporating entomology into his classes at J.I. Case High School.
Kyle Johnson gave an update on his adventures over the last year and also showcased the WES Field Trips of 2019, including an outing at Fort McCoy in late May. PJ Liesch provided a brief update from the UW Insect Diagnostic Lab and other members shared their entomology updates from 2019 as well.
The fall meeting also featured the annual photo salon competition, which showcased some excellent arthropod images from the last year. Nancy Collins took home first place with her up-close photo of a Forbes’ tree cricket (Oecanthus forbesi), Kyle Johnson took second place with his image of a Frosted Elfin (Callophrys irus) from Monroe County, and PJ Liesch took third place with a photo of a giant ichneumon wasp (Megarhyssa sp.) from his yard.
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Forbes’ Tree Cricket
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Frosted Elfin
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Giant Ichneumon Wasp