Boston Flora

Tag: American Burying Beetle

  • Tuesday, March 10, 7:30 pm – The Reintroduction of the American Burying Beetle to Nantucket

    March’s Cambridge Entomological Club meeting will be held Tuesday, March 10th at 7:30 PM in room 101 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Oxford Street in Cambridge. Andrew Mckenna-Foster (pictured below,) the Director of Natural Sciences at the Maria Mitchell Association, will be telling us about The Reintroduction of the American Burying Beetle to Nantucket Island.

    The federally endangered American burying beetle, Nicrophorus americanus (Coleoptera: Silphidae) is the largest of North America’s carrion beetles. Its historical range covered 35 states in the eastern temperate areas of North America, but today, populations remain in only eight states and it is possibly one of the rarest beetle species in the United States. The range of ABBs on the east coast is particularly limited, only surviving naturally on Block Island, RI. In 1994, 48 N. americanus were released on Nantucket Island, MA in a large collaborative effort to build a second east coast population. “As we observed how this new population was settling in on the island, we have adapted our monitoring and reintroduction methodology to efficiently boost the number of wild beetles. After a peak in capture numbers in 2011 (212 beetles), we entered a phase of testing whether the species can survive on the island with little to no assistance. I will talk about what we have learned concerning dispersal, winter survival, reproduction, and ultimately, the probable fate of this population.”

    The meeting is free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided and you are also welcome to join us at 6:00 pm for an informal pre-meeting dinner at Cambridge Common.

  • Tuesday, January 10, 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm – The 18 Year Effort to Establish the American Burying Beetle to Nantucket

    Nantucket probably doesn’t need any more visitors, but on Tuesday, January 10, the Cambridge Entomological Club will present Lou Perrotti, Director of Conservation Programs at the Roger Williams Park Zoo, who will present a lecture entitled The 18 Year Effort to Establish the American Burying Beetle to Nantucket Island.  CEC meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month from October through May. The evening schedule typically includes an informal dinner (6:15 to 7:15 PM) followed by our formal meeting (7:30 – 9:00 PM) in MCZ 101, 26 Oxford Street, Harvard University. The latter begins with club business and is followed by a 50 minute entomology related presentation. Membership is open to amateur and professional entomologists.  For more information, email CEC President Jessica Walden-Gray at jessisoutside@gmail.com.