August 23, 2024
Entomologists Return From Fieldwork In Panamá
Entomologists Return From Fieldwork In Panamá
Negaunee Assistant Curator Bruno de Medeiros, Insects Collection Manager Maureen Turcatel, Negaunee postdoc Diego Souza, and University of Chicago PhD student Abigail Magland recently returned from three weeks of fieldwork in Panamá (July 18 – August 8).
The team traversed both low-elevation and cloud forests from eastern Panamá to the border with Costa Rica, looking for flower beetles and flies. Surprisingly, Bruno discloses, “At our first stop (Mount Chucantí), we encountered a very loud outbreak of cicadas. So, leaving Chicago was not enough to avoid waking up quite early to cicada noise! Some of them will be eternized in our collections.” The team returned to Chicago with almost 300 lots of samples, including new species that will be described soon. These samples will be added to the FMNH Insect Collections and also support ongoing studies on genomics, phylogenetics and interactions between beetles and their host plants.
August 23. 2024
