The Otago branch of the Entomological Society welcomes anyone with an interest in insects, spiders or other invertebrates. Professionals, amateurs, students, juniors and senior citizens are all equally welcome!
The Otago Entomology Society meets at 5:30pm on the first Thursday of every month. Meetings are usually in the Benham seminar room in the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago, 340 Great King Street. Note that the electronic doors are locked from 5pm but a member of the group will be on hand to let you inside the building.
The focus of each meeting varies:
We host speakers on a range of topics, such as how to set up a Wikipedia page for your favourite insect; how to use iNaturalist to record your interesting insect finds and get involved in research; why wasps are important and how to monitor them.
We hold workshops to teach and practice insect identification skills, starting with how to tell a bug from a beetle and working up to using dichotomous keys to identify insects to species level. We provide microscopes, tweezers, sorting dishes and vials for use during workshops.
Soon we will be taking a behind-the-scenes tour of the Otago Museum’s invertebrate collection. And we are currently planning a series of fieldtrips to Sinclair Wetlands to document the invertebrate life there – this will be the first time the wetland has had its insect biodiversity assessed! We also plan to hold a macro photography workshop over winter 2019.
At the end of most meetings we have tea, coffee and biscuits. This is a great time to share stories and photos of your latest interesting insect finds, get help with IDs, or show off your pet centipede 🙂
Visitors are welcome to come along to one of our meetings. If you would like to join the group, annual membership fees are $10 for a student/non-wage earner and $20 for a non-student/wage earner.
If you would like to know more, please email: otago.entomology@hotmail.com.
Website: https://otagoentsoc.com/
Join our Facebook group at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/OtagoEntomologySociety/
Follow us on Twitter: @OtagoEntoSoc
Current Committee:
- President: James Crofts-Bennet
- Vice-President: Luna Thomas
- Immediate Past-President: Emma Curtin
- Secretary: Eloise Lancaster
- Treasurer: Rose Borror