On Tuesday, October 14th at 07:30 PM in room 101 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, Ricardo Pérez de la Fuente of Harvard University will address the Cambridge Entomological Club about Fossil Insects: Learning from the past.
Insects are one of the main biological sources of environmental, ecological, and evolutionary information concerning life on land as archived in the geological record from ca. 400 million years ago. Although the study of extinct insects is challenging, it can be surprisingly similar to the study of extant specimens thanks to the discovery of fossils with exceptional preservation, like amber inclusions, and the use of new techniques. As the legacy of an old paleoentomological tradition that started with the classic works of Samuel H. Scudder, co-founder of the Cambridge Entomological Club and its journal Psyche, the Museum of Contemporary Zoology has one of the premier fossil insect collections worldwide, composed of more than 30,000 specimens and 3,000 types. But what can we really learn from fossil insects? And to what extent are they reliable? Together we will try to answer these and more questions in the forthcoming talk.
The meeting is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided and you are also welcome to join Club members at 6:00 PM for an informal pre-meeting dinner at the Cambridge Common. For more information contact CEC Vice-President Shayla Salzman at shaylasalzman@fas.harvard.edu.
