Meeting 1131 Minutes

Minutes from the 1131st Meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club

Former President Maria Aliberti Lubertazzi called the 1131st meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club to order at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 at MCZ 101. Approximately 18 members and guests were in attendance.

Old business: Adam South and Nooria Al-Wathiqui were nominated for membership.

Jay Iwasaki and James Crall were confirmed for membership.

Our January meeting featured a talk by Adam South entitled Seminal influences: The role of male ejaculates in firefly evolution. Adam is a PhD candidate at Tufts University.

Adam prefaced his talk by mentioning 2 programs: The first, flashtogether.org, urges firefly conservation, especially the elimination of firefly bounty-hunting.  The second, Firefly Watch, is a citizen science program run by the Boston Museum of Science, Tufts University, and Fitchburg State College.

Adam discussed his research exploring firefly mating, sexual selection and nuptial gifts. Male fireflies produce and transfer to the female a nutritious spermatophore each time they mate. His work examines spermatophore production from a phylogenetic perspective, including how it is linked to sex specific patterns of evolution and its role in firefly sexual selection.

Among his observations: Nuptial gifts are expensive for male fireflies, and the gifts are smaller after the initial mating; firefly species with flightless females do not employ nuptial gifts.

To supplement his talk, Adam brought a selection of preserved specimens, including a larviform female and some enormous eggs from Thailand.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 for discussion and refreshments.