Over a span of 90 years, banker and philanthropist David Rockefeller collected beetles from around the world, eventually building a personal collection of more than 150,000 specimens. In 2017, his longstanding support for the entomology department of the Harvard University Museum of Comparative Zoology culminated in a gift to the museum of this extraordinary collection. Join the Harvard Museum of Natural History in celebrating this invaluable gift. The small exhibit features hundreds of specimens from Rockefeller’s collection and recounts the story of a man whose childhood pursuit grew into a lifelong passion. Exhibit is on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, in Arthropods: Creatures That Rule.
The Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, will present three separate one hour Entomology Workshops in Pinning and Learning on Sunday, November 3, beginning at 10 am with instructor Mickey Alice Kwapis.
The first session will work with butterflies. Learn about the anatomy and life cycles of insects and prepare your own beautiful butterfly specimen for display. Participants will explore the wild world of insects through a visit to the arthropod gallery, accompanied by an activity where you will learn to prepare and preserve a butterfly that you get to display in your home. Tools and illustrated instructions are provided for students to keep.
The second session, from 11:15 – 12:15 will deal with Cicadas. Explore large tropical insects from an evolutionary standpoint with a hands-on look at gargantuan species. Utilizing sustainably sourced empress cicadas (8″+ wingspan), students will learn about insect development and anatomy by preparing and preserving specimens of their own. Each student will get to keep a set of illustrated instructions, tools, and their own finished specimen to display at home. With newfound knowledge, students will also get to explore the arthropod gallery to take in all of the subtle nuances of Earth’s invertebrate species.
The third hour. from 1:00 – 2:00, deals with Atlas Beetles. Advance registration is required. The cost for the butterfly session is $35 for Museum members and $40 for nonmembers, and the Cicada and Atlas Beetle sessions are $45 for Museum members and $50 for nonmembers. Register at https://hmnh.harvard.edu/calendar/upcoming/event-audience/adults
Discover the world of insects in a hands-on entomology workshop on December 15 at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge. Students will learn how to prepare and preserve three types of deceased specimens for collections and display, including a large cicada, an Atlas beetle, and the choice of a butterfly or moth. Learn about the science of invertebrates from Harvard entomologist Shoyo Sato, who will introduce us to some of the members of the museum’s live collection. If you’re feeling brave, you can hold a cockroach! Each student will leave with three finished pinned insect specimens ready for drying and display, along with a full set of entomology tools and instructions for future projects.
This class starts promptly at 10 am and ends between 11:30 am and 12 pm. Students who are delayed are asked to call ahead so we know when to expect you. A contact phone number will be provided after you are registered. We will accommodate late arrivals to the best of our ability but late students are not guaranteed to finish their projects during designated class time. This class is open to adults 18 and older.
Instructors: Mickey Alice Kwapis, Professional Taxidermist, and Shoyo Sato, Harvard doctoral candidate and entomologist
Get some hands-on experience scouting and identifying landscape diseases, insects, weeds, and abiotic problems on Wednesday, June 6 from 5 – 7 pm. Join Tawny Simisky, Extension Entomologist and Russ Norton, Horticulture and Agriculture Extension Educator, for a walk through the Heritage Museums & Gardens landscape as they discuss and demonstrate how to put IPM practices to work efficiently and examine some of the most common pest and cultural problems of woody ornamentals. Dress for walking; workshop held rain or shine. Bring a clipboard, pencil and hand lens if possible. Preregistration required as space is limited; the cost is $50. Heritage Museums & Gardens is located at 67 Grove Street in Sandwich. Register online at https://ag.umass.edu/landscape/events/landscape-pests-problems-walkabout-insects-cultural-problems
Can gardeners make a difference for the future of biodiversity in our communities? Come to the Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury, Massachusetts for the Annual David H. Smith Memorial Lecture on Wednesday, August 12, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Yes we can! In this talk based on his book, Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens, Douglas Tallamy, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, reveals the importance of the interaction between plants and insects in our own backyards.
Tallamy will illustrate the unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife: when native plants disappear, native insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds as well as other animals. Learn how as gardeners we can help sustain this link by planting native species that support our native wildlife population. Book signing after lecture. $10/$5 for PHA members. Begins at 7:30 pm. Sponsored by SBS: the Grain Store. For more information contact Karin Stanley at karin@pollyhillarboretum.org, or call her at 508-693-9426.
The Massachusetts Master Gardener Association is comprised of amateur and professional horticulturalists with a mission to promote horticultural knowledge to the public through volunteerism. MMGA Master Gardeners become trained and certified through an intensive training program held at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The course consists of thirteen classroom and lab modules, including soil science, botany, entomology, plant pathology, pruning and propagation. Courses are conducted by both academic and industry professionals.
12 Thursdays • September 10— December 10 • 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM (No class on November 26)
Application deadline: Friday, August 1.
If you would like to pursue acceptance into the fall 2009 Massachusetts Master Gardener Association Master Gardener Training class, please download your application and enclose it, along with a nonrefundable registration fee of $25. The tuition fee of $500 is due within two weeks of acceptance into the program.
Apply today. The class fills quickly!
Location: MHS Horticulture Center Contact: Michael Opton, 617-933-4963; mopton@masshort.org
