Next Meeting Monday 11-27-2023 Title:Annual Member Buttterfly Presentations.

Description: The talk covers a wide range of topics, from what makes the tropics the tropics, different tropical habitats/biomes, interesting plants and plant-plant relationships, pollination modalities, various vertebrate animal groups, a rather long section on insect defenses against predation, insects and what they eat, insect attraction to lights, and a short section on deforestation and sustainable practices in the tropics.

Dr. James Adams

[Modified] Bio: James Adams is a Lepidopterist and Professor of Biology (1990-present ), Dalton State College, Dalton, Georgia. He was born 1960, Smithville, Missouri and has three degrees: B.S. (1983), M.Phil. (1987), Ph.D. (1990), all from Univ. of Kansas. James is a specialist in “Macro” lepidoptera (esp. Noctuoidea), of Georgia and Kansas and has amassed a collection of 60,000+ prepared specimens. He has published on the butterfly biodiversity on Sapelo Island, a barrier island of Georgia and co-authored the description of a new species of moth from there as well as a new moth species from northern Arizona and southeastern Utah. He is a co-author of a chapter on Superfamily Zygaenoidea in Moth

Description: GBIF, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, is the global umbrella group for online biota locality data including Texas beetle data. GBIF is growing exponentially, driven in large part due to the exponential growth of data coming from iNaturalist. Also contributing to GBIF are copious amounts of specimen data, particularly from the Texas A&M University Insect Collection (TAMUIC) and from BugGuide. I will discuss the growth and ramifications of the availability of Texas beetle data.

Mike Quinn has been a board member of the Austin Butterfly Forum for over 20 yrs and has been studying beetles for nearly 30 years in close association with Ed Riley, the foremost authority on Texas beetles.

Butterflies don't just flutter, and birds don't merely flap. They also hover, glide, soar, burst, stoop and perform a remarkable suite of additional flight styles, all in accordance with their sizes, shapes, and situations. Join me for an explanation of bird and butterfly flight that will focus on the different "modes" that these animals use while in the air. I promise to go easy on the physics, and also to give you some tips that might enhance your wildlife viewing experience, and encourage you to make more use of that slow-motion setting on your camera or smartphone. Bio:John Acorn is a biologist and naturalist, and he teaches at the University of Alberta. John has been a lifelong resident of Edmonton, and he is best known for his television series Acorn, The Nature Nut, and as the author of some twenty books on natural history subjects.

[Modified] Bio:Born and raised in the Upper Midwest, Steve earned his M.S. at the University of Wisconsin. After coming to New Mexico in 1980, Steve worked professionally for 35 years in resource management, environmental protection and nature conservation. Butterflies have always been Steve’s passion and he has published a variety of scientific and popular articles on his favorite creatures. Through countless butterfly talks and guided walks, he has become New Mexico's Butterfly Guy. New Mexico Magazine published his book, Butterfly Landscapes of New Mexico, in 2009. He self-published a biography of 19th-Century naturalist Winslow Howard in 2020. For the last two years he has been blogging about New Mexico butterflies and collaborating with Mike Toliver to assemble an on-line field guide to Butterflies of New Mexico.

James Adams is a repeat speaker for the Austin Butterfly Forum. This month James will give a fun presentation on the spread across the Southeast US of a Noctuoidea moth first collected by James and a colleague in Georgia in 2012, Last year it was recorded at Tyler State Park in ne. Texas! Bio: James Adams is a Lepidopterist and Professor of Biology (1990-present ), Dalton State College, Dalton, Georgia. He grew up in Missouri and has three degrees: B.S. (1983), M.Phil. (1987), Ph.D. (1990), all from Univ. of Kansas. James is a specialist in “Macro” lepidoptera (esp. Noctuoidea), of Georgia and Kansas and has amassed a collection of 60,000+ prepared specimens. He was the 2004/05 president of the Lepidopterists Society and has co-authored the description of new species of moths from Georgia and the southwest. James' presentation should last 30 minutes.

Description - Learn about ticks within the US and abroad, their ecology, diseases they vector, control methods, and more. Bio - Tyler Hedlund works for the USDA, originally as an Area Identifier in Laredo, TX, but now as a Plant Health Safeguarding Specialist in Champaign, IL. No matter the location, he is always collecting and learning more about the local arthropods. His background is in ticks and Orthoptera, but his interests have expanded to include spiders and various beetle families.

Overview: Bill Dempwolf will discuss butterflying in Alaska. What to consider when planning, what habitats and what butterflies you might encounter. Bio: Bill Dempwolf has been interested in butterflies and moths since getting hooked as an adult in 2006. Bill is an enthusiastic amateur lepidopterist with a special passion for skippers. His butterflying trips outside Texas have included Alaska, California, Florida and Peru.

Benjamin Schwartz, PhD Professor, Department of Biology Director, Edwards Aquifer Research and Data Center Texas State University San Marcos, Texas, 78666

Getting people to notice, understand, and value nature is a key challenge in today’s ever more urban and technological world. In his presentation, Paul Switzer will explain the genesis of the Urban Butterfly Initiative, a community service nonprofit he founded in 2018 that uses butterflies as the hook for broader conservation, environmental education, and community building goals across communities in central Illinois. Brief BIO: Dr. Paul Switzer received his Ph.D. from the University of California-Davis and is currently a Professor of Biology at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. He has published over 60 research and teaching articles. He started the Grand Prairie Butterfly Club in 2003 and in 2018, he founded the Urban Butterfly Initiative, 501(c)3 non-profit for which he currently serves as Director.

Since 2011 I have been working with volunteers and Cuban scientists to explore Cuba's extraordinary natural areas, document flora and fauna, and assess the conservation needs of the rarest butterflies. Cuba has some plant communities that are similar to those in South Florida including mangrove swamps, freshwater marshes, and dry tropical forests, but others have no equivalent such as savannas, scrubs, and pinelands on serpentine soils, moist tropical forests in the mountains, and arid, rocky shrublands. The island is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots with many endemic plants and animals. At least 210 different kinds of butterflies have been reported from Cuba and about 40% are unique to the island. Butterflies are often good at dispersing and there is exchange with Mexico, Hispaniola, south Florida, and other widely separated places. This presentation will give an overview of Cuban culture, landscapes, and biodiversity.

Dr. Marc Minno-Bio

Dr. Minno has a Ph.D. in zoology and more than 30 years of professional experience as an interdisciplinary scientist. He is currently a Water Resource Coordinator with the Suwannee River Water Management District in Live Oak, Florida. Marc and Maria Minno also work on plant and butterfly projects throughout Florida via Eco-Cognizant, Inc., their home-based consulting business. In addition to his many years of experience with wetlands, Dr. Minno is keenly interested in conservation biology and has conducted field research throughout the US and in Central America, South America, Caribbean, Europe, and India. Since 2011 Dr. Minno has been working with biologists in Cuba to better understand the ecological relationships of imperiled butterflies in southern Florida. He has authored/ coauthored six books and six book chapters on butterflies and plants.

The National Butterfly Center is leading the charge to learn more about Manfreda and the critically imperiled butterfly that needs it to survive. Citizen scientists are needed to help with the first phase of this conservation project, upon which we hope to build a comeback for this rare, native host plant and its "ghost," the Manfreda Giant-Skipper. Bio: Marianna T. Wright is a passionate advocate for Texas' natural treasures. As executive director of the National Butterfly Center, she is leading the charge to protect and preserve the creatures and features that make South Texas so special.

Note: This discussion will look at the process of writing her book on Butterflies of the Kansas City Region and then into working on an inventory of bugs and spiders on her 5 acres.

Note: This Month we have an Open Show and Tell with our ABF and Facebook Members

Presented by Dr. Chuck Sexton, a retired wildlife biologist, birder, iNaturalist, and lecturer.

An Interview with @greglasley from iNaturalist on Vimeo.

Male Sex Scales of Moths – Natural Wicks for Scent Dispersal Butterflies and moths have attracted much attention because of their colorful wing patterns derived from pigments inside their scales. Males of many Lepidoptera have scales that lack pigments, but rather are used for producing and disseminating pheromones that are essential for mating success. This presentation is based on examinations of the male scent scales of tortricid and gelechiid moths with a scanning electron microscope. The images of magnified scales have revealed another kind of beauty with the structural innovations that increase surface area to improve dissemination as well as different ways of protecting the scent scales when not in courtship.

Richard L. Brown I began collecting and studying microlepidoptera in Arkansas during the 1960’s and obtained my M.S. degree in Entomology at the University of Arkansas. After serving as a medical entomologist in the U.S. Army at Ft. Sam Houston, I obtained a Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1980. I was then employed as Director of the Mississippi Entomological Museum at Mississippi State University where I also taught courses in Insect Taxonomy, Aquatic Insects, and Immature Insects. My research has concentrated on morphology and systematics of tortricid and gelechiid moths and has involved fieldwork throughout the U.S. and in Chile, Venezuela, New Caledonia, Fiji Islands, and Thailand. Since my retirement in 2020, I have greatly enjoyed working full time on moths and manuscripts.

Richard L. Brown is the W.L. Giles Distinguished Professor Emeritus as well as Director Emeritus, Mississippi Entomological Museum at Mississippi State University. Richard began collecting insects during the 1960's in northwestern Arkansas. As a student at University of Arkansas (M.S., 1973), he became interested in the Lepidoptera, especially the "micros" of the southern Ozarks. After serving as a medical entomologist in the military for two years, Richard concentrated on the systematics of the large micro moth family of Tortricidae at Cornell University. Upon completing my doctorate in 1980, I was employed as Director of the Mississippi Entomological Museum and Assistant Professor to teach taxonomy courses at Mississippi State University. Following collecting trips around the world, Richard began concentrating on the relatively unknown moth fauna in southeastern U.S., especially in unique and threatened habitats in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Presented by: Marion Le Gall, Assistant Reseach Professor: Arizona State University. This talk will be about the unique challenges of grasshopper management on various continents. It is aimed at a broad audience.

Marion Le Gall has always loved insects and translated that interest into a career as a nutritional ecologist to study generalist herbivores. Her research seeks to understand how generalists solve the problem of balancing multiple and changing nutrient needs and how it affects their behavior and performance. She likes to use a physiological approach (the Geometric Framework) as a window into mechanisms underlying ecological patterns and processes. The overarching goal of her research is to use these insights to help establish sustainable management programs for herbivorous pests.

Presented By: Charley Eiseman a freelance naturalist based in western Massachusetts.

Description: Leafminers are insect larvae that spend at least part of their lives feeding between the epidermal layers of leaves. In North America they include over 2000 species of moths, flies, beetles, and sawflies, belonging to over 50 different families. These insects are typically quite host-specific, and the form of the mine varies considerably depending on what insect produces it. As a result, it is often possible to identify the responsible insect using only the host plant and mine characteristics. After a decade of reviewing the relevant literature, traveling throughout the continent, and collecting and rearing thousands of leafminers, Charley has completed a guide to the North American species that includes keys to the mines found on each plant genus. This slideshow presentation will introduce the major groups of leafminers, drawing all of the examples from among the 200+ species he found in his yard last year. Bio: Charley Eiseman is a freelance naturalist based in western Massachusetts. He has been conducting plant and wildlife surveys and natural resource inventories throughout New England for over 20 years, as well as teaching courses and workshops on interpreting animal tracks and sign (both vertebrate and invertebrate). He holds an MS in Botany (Field Naturalist) from the University of Vermont and a BS in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation and Management from the University of Massachusetts. Charley is the author of Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates (Stackpole Books, 2010), Leafminers of North America (self-published e-book, 2019), and an insect-themed blog called “BugTracks.” He has also published around 50 scientific papers on insect natural history, including the description of over 75 new species. http://charleyeiseman.com/

"Presented by Dr. Salvador Vitanza Entomologiest with the USDA-APHIS-PPQ based in Nogales Arizona; PH D from University of Missouri.">

Description: The Scarab beetles (family Scarabaeidae) have attracted human attention and curiosity since ancient times. They are the most speciose and biologically diverse among the 12 Scarabaeoidea families. Scarab aficionados have placed most of their attention on the Rhinoceros beetles (subfamily Dynastinae) because of their beauty, environmental impact, and, in some cases, impressive size. This presentation will cover Dynastine beetles morphology, life history, collecting techniques, and identification to tribe level.

Bio: Originally from Honduras, Salvador works as an Entomologist for USDA-APHIS-PPQ based in Nogales, Arizona. All his higher education was obtained in entomology: Bachelor of Science from University of Florida, MSc. from Louisiana State University, Ph.D. from University of Missouri , and a Post-Doc at The Ohio State University. His work experience includes extension, research, teaching, administration, and the agrochemical industry. Salvador's applied entomological background includes integrated pest management (IPM) in cotton, pecan, small grains, field crops, and vegetables. His favorite obsession is documenting arthropods through macro photography. He has posted over 26,200 images in BugGuide (https://bugguide.net/) and manages a website called Southwest Bugs (https://elp.tamu.edu/ipm/bugs/) where he posts arthropods from Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Salvador loves his current job to the point that he is not looking for a fancier position and is in no hurry to retire.

Butterflys are flying insects with colorful wings. They taste terrible and have a habit of mass migration.

Insect declines have become an important topic over the last few years, for good reason. Insects are such a key component of virtually all terrestrial ecosystems that downward trends in insect biomass and abundance are concerning to say the least. I'll touch on the current state of insect decline research, our efforts to standardize insect monitoring, and my ongoing research in Great Smoky Mountains National Park using historical insect and bird surveys originally conducted by the early ecologist, Robert Whittaker.

I am a PhD student in Dr. Morgan Tingley's lab at UCLA, studying insect declines and their effects on insectivorous birds. I grew up in Houston, went to Cornell University where I majored in entomology, did biological field work for 3 years before starting graduate school. My PhD research focuses on using historical data as a baseline to better understand the drivers and consequences of insect declines, and I am currently doing insect and bird resurveys in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, among other projects. When I'm not in the lab or field, I enjoy macrophotography, playing basketball, and kayaking.

Thanks to its size and geographic position, Texas is home to nearly 30,000 species of insects, likely making its insect population the most diverse in the nation. Ranging from eastern and western to temperate and tropical species, this vast array of insects can be difficult to identify. In Common Insects of Texas and Surrounding States, John and Kendra Abbott have created the state's most comprehensive field guide to help readers recognize and understand these fascinating creatures.

John and Kendra are professional nature photographers, educators and outdoor enthusiasts based in Tuscaloosa, AL. John is the Chief Curator and Director of Research and Collections for The University of Alabama Museums and Kendra is a Research Scientist in the Department of Biology..

Picture of Carousing Jewelmark - a subject of Alida Madero Farias work

October's presentation will be given by butterfly experts Alida and Lucy from Monterrey, México. They will provide an overview of Mexico as a biodiverse country, with an emphasis on Nuevo Leon and its butterfly hotspots such as Picachos, Chipinque, and Estanzuela. They will discuss the history of area butterfly counts and multiple field guides that they co-authored. Included will be a discussion of butterflies among ancient Mexican cultures as well as how the current pandemic is affecting México.

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Every November we have had a Show and Tell meeting where members or guests have about 10 minutes to show their best or most memorable photos from the past year. This pandemic year has forced us to have online Zoom meeings. We will continue to have the show and tell format but we wil have to do it via zoom.

Butterflys are flying insects with colorful wings. They taste terrible and have a habit of mass migration.

Butterflys are flying insects with colorful wings. They taste terrible and have a habit of mass migration.

Butterflys are flying insects with colorful wings. They taste terrible and have a habit of mass migration.

Butterflys are flying insects with colorful wings. They taste terrible and have a habit of mass migration.

Butterflys are flying insects with colorful wings. They taste terrible and have a habit of mass migration.