, , , ,

3rd Annual ESO BugEye Photo Contest

Got a great insect photo? Submit it to the 3rd Annual BugEye Photo Contest presented by the Entomological Society of Ontario!

Acorn Weevil by Crystal Ernst

2011 Winning Photo, Open Category: Acorn Weevil by Crystal Ernst

Prizes for:
– Best photo (open category): $50
– Best photo by an Ontario resident: $50
– Best photo of an Ontario insect: $50
– Best photo by a kid under 13: $50

Open to everyone, no entry fee!
(Ontario resident includes anyone who currently makes their primary residence in Ontario, international students welcome!).

Submission deadline: Sept. 6th, 2012

Submit photos to: esophotos@gmail.com

Winners announced: September 30th, 2012

Copyright for the photo remains with the photographer, use must be granted for ESO promotional material. Winning photos will be displayed on the ESO website, and all entries will be displayed at the 149th Annual General Meeting of the ESO.

Interested in meeting other entomologists and learning more about Ontario insects? Join ESO! It’s free for students and amateurs, and only $30 for others. Get more information at http://www.entsocont.ca.

Rules:
1. Photos must be of insects or closely-related arthropods (e.g. mites, spiders).
2. Submissions must be as digital files
3. Photographic enhancement is allowed as long as it is something that could be achieved in a real darkroom (i.e. adjustment of contrast, color enhancement, cropping, etc.). However very obvious enhancements will be negatively scored.
4. You may submit up to 3 unique images per category.
5. Submit photos as 7.5 x 10 inches in size at 300 dpi (2250 x 3000 pixels), in .jpg format, with filename as title_lastname_firstinitial.jpg (e.g. dragonfly_smith_j.jpg).
6. Photos may be landscape or portrait in orientation.
7. Print photos must be scanned and submitted as digital files.

Please include a short description of your photo:
1. Where they were taken
2. Why you like them
3. What insect is pictured
4. What category is being entered
5. Your complete address

Judging criteria:
1. Image composition
2. Visual impact
3. Subject interest
4. Sharpness of subject
5. Difficulty of image acquisition
6. Depth of field within image

/par
, ,

An Insect for Canada

Happy Canada Day!

To celebrate, Crystal & I thought we would highlight Canada’s official insect, because a country with the rich entomological heritage that Canada has must have one. As we began researching further however, we were dismayed to discover that Canada doesn’t have an official insect!

White Admiral Butterfly - Tom Murray

White Admiral (Limenitis arthemis) – photo by Tom Murray and used under Creative Commons License

In fact, the only province or territory to adopt an official insect is Quebec. After a public vote held by the Montreal Insectarium in 1998, the White Admiral butterfly (Limenitis arthemis) was selected as the provincial insect, which was later ratified by the National Assembly of Quebec.

It seems only two nations have insects as officially recognized symbols: Mexico with the grasshopper as its National Arthropod (perhaps in honour of Chapulines, grasshoppers in the genus Sphenarium which are a common food item in several regions) and Sri Lanka, which designated a National Butterfly (an endemic swallowtail butterfly, Troides darsius).

As the Entomological Society of Canada & the Entomological Society of Ontario approach their joint 150th anniversary, perhaps it’s time we start thinking about choosing an official insect for Canada.

Entomological Society of Canada LogoThe obvious choice would be the insect adorning the ESC logo, an ice-crawler in the family Grylloblattidae. Canadian entomologists Edmund Murton Walker (who would later found the Royal Ontario Museum’s invertebrate collection) and T.B. Kurata first discovered Grylloblatta campodeiformis in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta and placed it in its own, new order, the Grylloblattaria (although it is now treated as a suborder within the Notoptera).

Other choices might include any of the insects featured on the logos of the provincial/regional entomological societies in Canada:

Entomological Society of British Columbia – Boreus elegans a winter scorpionfly.

Entomological Society of Alberta – a moth (if anyone knows the species, let us know).

Entomological Society of Saskatchewan – a short-horned grasshopper (if anyone knows the species, let us know).

Entomological Society of Manitoba – Big Sand Tiger Beetle (Cicindela formosa).

Entomological Society of Ontario – Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus).

Société d’entomologie du Québec – White Admiral Butterfly (Limenitis arthemis)(?).

Acadian Entomological Society – Apple Maggot Fly (Rhagoletis pomonella).

We don’t want to limit your imagination to just these insects of course! Perhaps you think our national insect should tie in with other national symbols, like the beaver. In that case, the Beaver Parasite Beetle (Platypsyllus castoris) might make an excellent candidate. An insect unique to the Canadian territories might also be a good idea as they aren’t represented among regional societies.

Platypsyllus castoris - Joyce Gross

Platypsyllus castoris – photo by Joyce Gross, used with permission

What do you think, should Canada have an official insect? If you have other suggestions for an insect that you believe represents our fair nation, or would like to place your vote for any of those already mentioned, let us know in the comments. If we receive enough feedback, we can take your ideas and the project to the Entomological Society of Canada governing board and maybe one day have an insect officially recognized by the government of Canada!

/par
, , ,

News from the Entomological Society of Manitoba

By Matt Yunik, Public Education, Entomological Society of Manitoba
____________________________________

After a slow start, I can finally say that spring is in the air here in Manitoba. Summer students have started their work in the various labs and grad students are chomping at the bit to get back into the field. After the devastating flooding followed by unquenchable drought of last year, this field season shows promise for being more successful.

Memorial in the J.B. Wallis and R.E. Roughley Museum of Entomology, with a case of Dr. Roughley’s Dytiscid beetles.

The entomology museum here at the University of Manitoba has recently undergone some transformations. A modest but fitting re-dedication ceremony was held on March 27th for our newly named J.B. Wallis/R.E. Roughley Museum of Entomology. Dr. Roughley had always been a big promoter of the museum, earning it the status of being the largest insect museum in Western Canada and the first bar-coded database system for entomological collections in Canada.

The department’s Graduate Student Association, with the assistance of the current curator Dr. Barb Sharanowski, has secured funding and are assembling a stereoscope with digital imaging system that will provide stellar images that will be shown on later blog posts.

Finally, there are two points of interest to report from the ESM front. On April 18th the ESM held our new member social. Dinner and drinks were served with admission covered for all new members of the society. I personally enjoyed meeting other newcomers while spending time with some of the more senior members.

Also, the ESM youth encouragement and public awareness team is getting ramped up for the multitude of presentations through the summer months. We typically conduct over 60 presentations a year, the majority of which are for summer youth camps. It will be exciting to see how the influx of new faces in the society will add to these presentations.

/par
, ,

Mise à jour/Update: Societé d’Entomologie du Québec

Un évènement à ne pas manquer!

Les 1 et 2 novembre 2012, la SEQ tiendra à Boucherville sa 139e réunion annuelle sous le thème « Entomologie et agriculture biologique : de l’écologie à la pratique ».  Lors du symposium, plusieurs conférenciers de prestiges viendront présenter les dernières avancées en agriculture biologique, les applications de leurs recherches ainsi que les défis à relever dans le futur en agriculture biologique. En plus du symposium, plus d’une trentaine de présentations étudiantes et professionnelles seront données sur différents aspects de l’entomologie agricole et forestière lors de la première journée du congrès.  Pour plus de détails sur le programme et pour vous inscrire, consultez notre site Web à www.seq.qc.ca

An event not to miss!

On November 1st and 2nd 2012, the SEQ will hold its 139e annual meeting in Boucherville under the theme of “Entomology and organic agriculture: from ecology to practice”.  During the symposium, prestigious speakers will present the latest advances in organic agriculture, practical applications of their research and challenges in the future of organic agriculture.  In addition to the symposium, more than thirty talks from students and professionals on agricultural and forest entomology research will be given during the first day of the meeting.  For more details about the program and to register visit our website at www.seq.qc.ca

__________________________________
Sophie Rochefort

Présidente, Societé d’Entomologie du Québec

/par
, , , ,

JAM 2012 Photo Competition: Canadian Arthropods

By Adrian Thysse, Photographer and  co-organizer of the JAM 2012 Photo Competition
_____________________________
The Joint Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of Alberta and the Entomological Society of Canada will be hosted in Edmonton, November 3-7, 2012 . All participants of JAM 2012 are eligible to participate in the photo competition.

The theme for the competition will be Canadian Arthropods, in the following categories:

1. Dead–pinned or preserved specimens
2. Alive–in the natural habitat
3. Dead or Alive–predators with prey
4. Alive with mites–insect mite symbiosis (Sponsored by International Journal of Acarology editor, Dave Walter)

$150 will be awarded to the winner for each category and the “Alive with mites” winner may be offered the opportunity to be a cover illustration for the International Journal of Acarology.

So far the judges include John Acorn, David Walter and myself, and we are looking forward to a wealth of submissions from all the many entomologists, amateur or professional, that will be attending JAM 2012.

Nothing to submit? There is a whole season of delicious bug photography still ahead!

The closing date for submissions is October 30, so get your macro lens on and get cracking! We are looking forward to a biodiverse flood of entries!

Sympetrum sp. Photo by Adrian Thysse

Originally posted at Splendour Awaits:  http://bugs.adrianthysse.com/2012/06/jam-2012-photo-competition-canadian-arthropods/

/par