Entomology – ESA Conference 2017, Denver

NIGHTSEA exhibited at the 2017 Entomology Society of America conference in Denver. We had a lot of great bug interactions and we’re happy to report on them here – with pictures.

 

Preparing for the conference

We wanted to have some specimens in our booth display so we did what any bug brained naturalist would do – we went outside. NIGHTSEA new hire James Garner went behind NIGHTSEA headquarters and dug around using his SOLA NIGHTSEA light and filter glasses to search for particularly fluorescent chitinous critters. He found plenty. Below is a gallery of the variety of bugs that were found, some of which were brought to Denver with us!

Dragons Wynd collaboration

At the conference we had the pleasure of meeting Jessica Miller, founder of Dragons Wynd – an entomology outreach program based in Minnesota. Jessica goal is “to share the wonder and fascination that comes from the world of insects.” A goal that was thoroughly accomplished during her brief visit with us. After seeing our fluorescence gear (we brought our Stereo Microscope Fluorescence Adapter, SOLA NIGHTSEA light, and our flash adapter and filter sets for photography) she immediately brought over one of the sets of insects that she uses for her outreach. NIGHTSEA founder Charles Mazel and Jessica quickly got to work photographing fluorescence in her collection. Below are the results of their exploration.

 

Leaving with spoils

Overwhelmed by the astounding variety of cool insects all around him, James couldn’t leave without buying a couple of specimens for himself from BioQuip Bugs. Growing up in Florida, cicada song had always been a part of the nightly chorus that he would come to love and associate with home. While the cicada below isn’t from Florida (it’s from Thailand, and is named Megapomponia intermedia), it’s beautiful and bears a close resemblance to the cicadas he grew up with and fondly remembers. The Planthopper was simply too cool to pass up. This particular planthopper (Fulgora laternaria) is in the same family as the spotted lanternfly featured above, but is from Peru. The gallery below shows these specimens fluorescing under blue light, and under white light.

 

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