The Washington Area Butterfly Club meets the last Thursday of the month at Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington, VA. Meetings are free and open to the public. For information about the meetings, please contact rsimms32573 || AT || aol || DOT || com.
NEXT MEETING: 7:30 p.m. January 28, 2010
Speaker: Dr. Dave Adamski, Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA
“Aspects of changing classifications: A nightmare for those outside systematics”
Have you ever studied some aspect of an organism’s biology and during this time you found out that its name changed, or worse, its name didn’t exist anymore? Did you ever study a group of organisms, and during these studies you found out that the name of the group changed, or worse, the group that you studied didn’t exist anymore? These are the trials and tribulations of those outside systematics.
Come and visit with Dr. David Adamski, who will explain how and why names change in the world of systematics. Using his favorite moth group, the Blastobasinae, learn about priority, synonymy, and paraphyly, and how the applications of these concepts within systematics can change the status quo of familiar names to the scientific community and those outside of science. Dr. Adamski will also present philosophical species concepts from Aristotle to present, and discuss their relevance to current views in systematics.
Dr. Adamski will present new biological information about the Blastobasinae which challenge previous ideas about feeding habits and evolutionary trends within the group.
Dave’s research specialty is the systematics of Gelechioid moths, especially Blastobasinae, and related microlepidoptera, a number of which are important or potential agricultural pests. But they’re also some of the most poorly known lepidoptera, taxonomically speaking. For the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Dr. Adamski curates and maintains adult and larval collections and provides routine and urgent identifications of Noctuoidea. He also teaches science to kindergarteners at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center.
Dr. Adamski has bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in entomology from the University of Massachusetts and Mississippi State University.
Link to Dr. Adamski’s research page: http://www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/people/people.htm?personid=49
Directions to Long Branch Nature Center via Google Maps: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Long+Branch+Nature+Center+625+S.+Carlin+Springs+Road,+Arlington,+VA+22204&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=42.360237,59.326172&ie=UTF8&z=16
Directions from I-395:
Take the SEMINARY RD exit- EXIT 4. Turn onto SEMINARY RD going northwest.
Turn RIGHT onto CARLIN SPRINGS RD / VA-716. Long Branch Nature Center is about 0.8 miles on the right behind a medical office building near a hospital. The Long Branch sign (which may be unlit on at least one side) and driveway are just before the office building. Follow the long driveway past the offices’ parking garage, through the woods, to the Nature Center parking lot. Walk up the incline to the Nature Center. ADC Northern Virginia Map 16, G-8.
Directions from Washington Beltway (I-495):
Drive EAST on ROUTE 50 about 5 miles.
Turn right (SOUTH) onto CARLIN SPRINGS ROAD. The Nature Center is about 1/3 mile on the left behind a medical office building; the sign and driveway are just beyond the building (just before the building for those driving NORTH from COLUMBIA PIKE). Drive past the office building and down the wooded driveway to the Nature Center parking lot.
Directions by Public Transportation:
From Ballston Metro station (Orange Line) board the 25A bus towards Pentagon.
Bus Stop: CARLIN SPRINGS RD & 6TH RD SOUTH.
Walk in the same direction the bus was going, cross the street when you see the Nature Center sign, and continue on the long driveway past the medical offices’ parking garage, through the woods, to the Nature Center (about a 3-minute walk).
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