Our most recent meeting was held on Saturday, November 9th, 2013 on the UW-Madison campus.  We had a small, but dedicated group of attendees.  Highlights included an update from Nancy Collins on her tree cricket (Gryllidae: Oecanthinae) research, a movie from Kyle Johnson depicting his collecting expedition into the peatlands of sub-arctic Canada, and a presentation by PJ Liesch on the aeolian (airborne) fauna of the Mt. Shasta alpine ecosystem.  In addition, the group shared reports of significant observations and collected specimens from the past year.

Last, but not least, the WES annual insect photo salon competition was held.  We had a number of excellent photographs submitted.  Karl Legler’s photograph of a Cloudless Giant Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) took third place.  In second place was Dorothy Legler with a photograph of a white-lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata).  First place went to Ilona Loser for her photograph of a rare robber fly (Ceraturgus aurulentus).  This particular species is exceptionally rare and has been collected less than two dozen times since its description roughly 200 years ago!  The last collected specimen of this species dates back to the 1980’s.