What to know
- Who can participate: Anyone passionate or curious about insects.
- Meeting days: Every first Monday and third Friday of the month.
- Meeting time: 4 p.m. (Meeting days and times are subject to change)
- Meeting location: The Biological Sciences building, Room 146.
About the club
The Northern Arizona Entomology Club is the one-stop hive for anyone itching to uncover fascinating facts about insects, from their classification to their behaviors to their indispensable roles in their environments. Through regular participation in Flagstaff’s annual science festivals and hands-on demonstrations in local elementary schools, club members strive to prove bugs are anything but simply creepy and crawly.
Q&A
It was love at first sight for Jamie Ramirez, a second-year doctoral student studying biology, when she dove into the beautiful, buzzing world of entomology as a child. Bugged by the limited avenues of insect studies in northern Arizona outside of NAU’s entomology labs, she helped form the Northern Arizona Entomology Club in Fall 2023 and now serves as its president. Read on to learn more about the club’s monthly get-togethers, how the Entomology Club takes care of its live specimens and Ramirez’s favorite bug facts.
Tell us a bit about this club’s history. How was it formed? What is your mission statement?
The Northern Arizona Entomology Club was formed two years ago by another graduate student, Teagan Mulford, and me in the hopes that we could attract other like-minded entomophiles. We found there wasn’t an existing space for many people with varying degrees of experience or interest in entomology to come together, ask questions, get help and connect with the community.
Both of us had come from other institutions with a strong entomological presence, and we missed the camaraderie a club can provide. I also discovered that many of the students I taught as a teacher’s assistant for the BIO 322L Entomology Lab truly enjoyed the course and wanted to continue studying insects.
With all these things considered, we formed the Northern Arizona Entomology Club and carefully crafted our mission statement with all our goals in mind.
The Northern Arizona Entomology Club seeks to inspire a sense of wonder for insects while reducing insect-associated fear and misinformation within the community at large. We aim to encourage ongoing research, curation and conservation of insects through volunteer work. Our ultimate goal is to create a sense of community within the club and encourage both professional and personal development through insect-focused activities.
What kinds of things does the Entomology Club do throughout the year, both at regular meetings and any other events?
Our annual events include participating in the Science in the Park event in downtown Flagstaff in September and our night light collecting event in October at Oak Creek Canyon.
About every second and fourth Thursday or Friday of the month—it varies on availability—our outreach team visits local schools with our live and pinned specimens to teach students about insects. This includes a Q&A session and interactive insect stations. These visits are geared toward teaching about the importance of insects and their incredible diversity at an elementary school level.
In the fall, we hosted semimonthly events on every first Monday and third Friday of the month. Our meeting times may be subject to change this semester. The Monday events are focused on curation. During these events, students learn the proper way to curate museum-quality insect collections and have the opportunity to curate the NAU Arthropod Collection. We also invite students who have curation projects for the BIO 322L Entomology Lab to come in for additional help outside of class. However, if you are looking for guidance in creating your collection, the Northern Arizona Entomology Club welcomes you with open arms. The Friday events are focused on sorting, in which students are led through different sorting methods using a variety of resources to aid in insect identification. Any additional news or business for the club is shared at the beginning of these events.
Spring and summer will include more insect-collecting, games, crafts, movies and social events in conjunction with curation nights, so stay tuned!
How does the Entomology Club collect and care for its live specimens?
Half of the specimens have been collected during our time doing fieldwork in southern Arizona this past summer and the other half I’ve purchased through private sellers. Currently, we have a praying mantis, two-spotted assassin bugs, walking sticks, darkling beetles, Madagascar hissing cockroaches and giant tiger beetles. I feed all of them one to two times a week and check on their water levels and enclosures daily. The predators feed on a mix of live crickets, wax worms and mealworms. The detritivores feed on a variety of vegetables, fruits and “bug burger” mix or dog food as a protein source, and the herbivores feed primarily on romaine lettuce.
Why is it important, in your opinion, to have an outlet on campus for people to gather and discuss entomology outside of class?
I think that our entomology class is a fantastic resource, but it’s only 16 weeks long. Our club provides a place that can continue from where the class left off and provide additional opportunities. It is also a safe place for students, including those who have not taken an entomology class, to come and be themselves. We are connected through our love and appreciation of these tiny creatures, and that bond has helped create lasting friendships. Insects themselves are misunderstood, and by gathering those who are passionate about them, we can team up to help dispel misinformation surrounding insects while lifting each other up in our academic and everyday lives.
Are there any misconceptions about bugs that you are looking to combat through your work?
Some misconceptions about insects include that they’re all gross and will hurt you or spread disease, but that’s just not true! Many insects aid in the pollination of our crops, eat insects that vector diseases, serve as bioindicators for pollution, break down materials for nutrient cycling in the soil and even help create materials for commercial use such as red dye and silk.
Do you have a personal favorite bug or bug fact?
My favorite insects are stick and leaf insects. I love how they use extreme masquerade crypsis to look exactly like sticks and leaves! They even sway as parts of a plant would in the wind or stay still when touched. They are so gentle, and some species can even reproduce asexually. I love how unique and special they are.
My favorite insect fact is that earwigs got their common name from the shape of their wings, not because they go into ears—which they don’t. They exhibit a fantastic example of maternal care. Mothers stay with their young until they can fend for themselves.
Tell us about a favorite memory you have from your time in the Entomology Club.
There are so many memories and more to be had! A few of my favorite moments during my time with the Entomology Club include having a student say that they used to fear insects but now really like them and want to learn more about them. They are now an active club member and work in an insect systematics lab on campus. Another memory is when the students from Thomas Elementary School told us how much they learned from us when we visited and that they wanted us to revisit them soon. A final memory is the positive response we received at our booth at the Science in the Park event this past September. So many families visited our booth, and some mothers had mentioned that they wanted their children to be familiar with insects and not be afraid of them.
What are some things the Entomology Club has coming up that you’re looking forward to and people should be excited about?
We’re looking to continue building our outreach efforts with our local elementary schools. Fostering these types of relationships with the community is enriching and vital to boost awareness about how fantastic insects are. Until then, anyone is welcome to come to our meetings with an open mind, a love for the outdoors and a readiness to make new friends.
Find out more about the Northern Arizona Entomology Club’s upcoming events by following @entomologyatnau on Instagram.