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January 1, 2010

Toronto Entomologists’ Association
Toronto, Ontario Canada

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Next Meeting

Saturday February 27, 2010 1:15 pm Room 206 Victoria College
COMPLEX SIGNALS: WHAT DO SPIDERS HAVE TO SAY

Andrew Mason

Andrew is a neuroethologist at the University of Toronto pursuing the communication techniques of insects and spiders. His current projects include the parasitoid fly that “hears” its cricket hosts, the sound production and hearing of Orthoptera and the complex signalling of other insects and spiders.

His presentation will focus on the courtship displays of some jumping spiders which show an unexpected complexity and diversity of signals. It seems that these attractive spiders don’t just rely on their good looks alone!

All our meetings are open to the public.Except if noted otherwise, they are held at 1:15 p.m. on the 4th Saturday of the month. Victoria College is across Queen's Park Crescent from the ROM -- see building "VC" on the University of Toronto map. If you are arriving by subway, get off at the Museum subway stop and cross the street. Please join us!

Student Symposium

This year's symposium will be on March 27. Applications to present are due March 5, 2010. See the symposium page for details.

Send in Your Latest Records

To keep our Seasonal Summaries coming, we need your records.

Lepidoptera: please submit records from the 2009 season by January 31, 2010. Colin Jones and Ross Layberry, Editors and Compilers of Ontario Lepidoptera, solicit records, notes, articles and photographs. See this link for more information on the summary and how to submit records, and here is a downloadable records template.

Odonata: please submit records from the 2007 to 2009 seasons by Feb. 28, 2010. Colin Jones and Paul Catling, Editors and Compilers of Ontario Odonata, seek records, notes, articles and photographs. For more information on the summary, how to submit records, and a downloadable records template, see this link or contact.

Spiders of Ontario Talk is Now Online

Metro Zoo curator Tom Mason's powerpoint presentation "Spiders of Ontario" from our November 2009 meeting is now available. See this link.

Non-TEA Activities and News

TEA hits YouTube! TEA member Kerry Jarvis has posted a cecropia moth video.

April 24, 2010: Ontario Insect Fair in Toronto.

Read more Ontario insect news: see the June 2009 newsletter of the Entomological Society of Ontario.

New (2009) publication about butterfies and their conservation: Sentinels on the Wing: The Status and Conservation of Butterflies in Canada

June 4-6, 2010. Carden Nature Festival (near Orillia). TEA members involved in leading activities are Bob Bowles and Carolyn King for butterflies and Dave Beadle for moths.

June 29 to July 2, 2010: 6th International Conference on the Biology of Butterflies is coming to the University of Alberta.

July 5-16, 2010: Arctic & Boreal Entomology course, Churchill, Manitoba.

Help Insect Artists, Researchers and Authors

Involved in insect/spider conservation?: if so, please answer these survey questions from TEA member R. Harvey Lemelin of Lakehead University.

Do you have an old insect collection you are not using? Amy Swartz of Toronto is looking for dead insects, including pinned ones, that she can make into works of art. She has a Master of Fine Art degree and teaches at the Toronto School of Art. She has done 64 insect pieces so far (see picture below) and she would like to do more. She will pay for shipment costs.

 

Moth data needed : TEA member Dave Beadle seeks observations of moth species, even from our backyards, to help him prepare a new Peterson field guide to the moths of northeastern North America.

Tiger moth study. Specimens, data and photos of the Spotted tussock moth (L. maculata) are sought by Ken Strothkamp, Lewis & Clark College, Oregon.

Be a pollinator observer: Pollination Canada is looking for people who will record pollinator types and numbers repeatedly at a specific location. Observations can be for as little as 10 minutes at a time. TEA members would be a great fit for this research task.

DNA barcoding: Paul Hebert of the University of Guelph is leading a research group which is attempting to identify all lepidoptera species through a segment of their DNA. For this purpose, he needs to obtain up to 5 specimens of each species. For details on the species needed, see the Excel spreadsheet, which is derived from Paul Hebert's Barcode of Life site.

 

News

Adrienne Brewster is the new executive director of the Wings of Paradise butterfly conservatory in Cambridge, taking over from Doug Wilson. See the newspaper report.

Alan Hanks writes: I am reducing my entomological library. Many fine books available at good prices. For a list by printed copy or Excel file, email me or write me at Alan J. Hanks, 34 Seaton Drive, Aurora, Ontario L4G 2K1.

Book by member Colin Jones: Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Algonquin Provincial Park, released October 2008.

Many older TEA publications are now available for free download on our publications page. This includes all back issues of our annual seasonal summary other than the two most recent issues -- over 2,000 pages of observations spanning more than 30 years. Copies of our Ontario Insects newsjournal from 1994 to 2005 are also available.

Our Latest Publications

Ontario Lepidoptera 2008 appeared in print in November 2009: the latest of our butterfly and moth summaries.

Ontario Odonata Volume 7 (2005), 226 pages, published November 2007: our dragonfly and damselfly summary.

Checklist of the Butterflies of the Toronto Region, 3rd edition, 2007. Inlcudes flight seasons. Compiled by Barry Harrison. Available as a free download.

See the publications page for details.

Our Association

The Toronto Entomologists' Association (T.E.A.) welcomes everyone who is interested in the insects of Ontario. We are an association of mostly amateur entomologists. Although our meetings are held in Toronto, we extend far beyond that in our field trips, our membership, and our seasonal summaries. Come to our meetings, join us on our field trips, purchase our publications, apply for the research grant, join us! The T.E.A. is a registered charity and a non-profit educational and scientific organization formed to promote interest in insects, to encourage co-operation among amateur and professional entomologists, to educate and inform non-entomologists about insects, entomology and related fields, to aid in the preservation of insects and their habitats and to issue publications in support of these objectives.

Membership in the TEA

Anyone with an interest in insects is encouraged to join the Toronto Entomologists' Association. Please see our Membership Page for more details.

Did You Know?

TEA member Don Davis holds the Guiness Record for documenting the "longest migration of a butterfly." A monarch he tagged and released at Presqu'ile Provincial Park near Brighton, Ontario in September 1986 was recovered alive the following April at Austin, Texas, having spent the winter in Mexico at the overwintering sites.

Stay in Touch!

We can send you regular emails about coming activities -- join the list. You will be informed of meetings, insect counts, and field trips.