Adventures in Entomology

Adventures in Entomology:  Marvelwood Bug-Hunters and the Science of Specimens

by Laurie Doss, Science Department Chair 

What do John James Audubon, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Say, Joseph Leidy, Ernest Hemingway, Captain James Cook and Marvelwood students have in common? All were/are explorers of the natural world who collected biological specimens that are now housed in the Academy of Natural Sciences (ANS) in Philadelphia, PA. The ANS was founded in 1812 "for the encouragement and cultivation of the sciences, and the advancement of useful learning."

On Wednesday, April 13^th, Marvelwood students Lucas O'Malley ‘11, Connor Bachmann ‘11, Mike Guo ‘11, Joseph Goldin ‘12 and Michael Esposito ‘11 departed campus around 4:00 am for a trip to Philadelphia. We had been invited to the Academy by some of the top entomologists in the world in their specialty (in fact, the world's largest collection of Orthoptera—crickets and grasshoppers—is stored here) to deliver insect specimens from Panama, which we collected during our recent visit to Central America in February.

The Academy, and primarily Dr. Jason Weintraub, the museum's Collection Manager, had helped us secure the permits we needed to be able to collect insects in Panama and then export them to the United States. Dr. Weintraub was very excited about the prospect of Marvelwood students collecting insects as part of our work in the rainforest, as the Academy has relatively few specimens from Panama in their extensive collection of insects, which spans the globe.

Since many regions in Central and South America have yet to be explored by scientists, there is always the possibility of discovering a new species—particularly a new species from the insect family Tipulidae (ie. Crane Fly), the largest family in the order Diptera (flies and midges)—from the field station in the Cocobolo Nature Reserve where Marvelwood students conduct their research each year. "Collections of organisms are the raw material of systematics, the study of the relationships among organisms. Having the actual specimens of organisms provides objective, verifiable records of their identities, as well as where and when they lived. As libraries that document the past and present species of the world, they yield new opportunities for discoveries that were unanticipated by the scientists who collected them” (ANS website).

At the Academy, students were treated to a look at some of the insect specimens in the collection from different parts of the world. After the tour of the collection, the group listened to a presentation by Dr. Jerry V. Mead on using a systems approach to understand water ecology. Next, Greg Cowper, a curatorial assistant and entomologist at the Academy, showed students how to properly prepare insects to be stored in a collection. Finally, Dr. Weintraub conducted a workshop involving the proper techniques needed to pin and dry butterflies and moths.

Our visit to the museum ended at 5:15 pm, and most teachers and students would have wrapped up their trip being satisfied with the knowledge they had obtained. However, at Marvelwood we try to take advantage of all of the opportunities we have at our disposal, so we took Dr. Weintraub up on his offer to join entomologists to sample for nocturnal moths at their research location in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey—over an hour away from Philadelphia!

We skipped dinner to arrive at the Parker Preserve in the Pine Barrens in time to join the entomologists in the sampling efforts for moths. While there, we also met John Gruber, a teacher from Friends Central School in Philadelphia who has traveled around the world collecting insects with his students and who is considering a joint trip to Panama with Marvelwood in the summer of 2011. We had the opportunity to see what is believed to be a new species of moth in North America, which is unique only to the Pine Barrens and has yet to be formally named.

Overall, despite finally sitting down to eat dinner at an all-night Denny's dinner in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, twenty hours after our adventure had begun, the group realized that we were very privileged to have had the opportunity to learn how to improve our entomological skills from such distinguished scientists. The exciting possibility that we may have discovered at least one new species of cricket in our samples from Panama has fueled our desire to continue our explorations to collect organisms for the Academy's collection, both in Panama and near Marvelwood, in the months and years ahead. Our entomological journey has just begun, and we hope that other students will join in the adventure!