Eat, drink, and learn about Mongolian butterflies from Stephen Mason, the Academy’s newest entomologist.
Monday, November 12
6 p.m.
National Mechanics
22 South 3rd Street, Philadelphia
In Mongolia, herding livestock is a tradition, but how does this practice affect insects? This July, Academy Entomology Curatorial Assistant Stephen Mason along with Academy Curator and Drexel Professor Jon Gelhaus carried out two studies measuring how grazing impacts aquatic insects in neighboring streams and butterflies inhabiting nearby meadows. The researchers added their specimens to the Academy’s extensive holdings of Mongolian insects, developing one of the largest collections of Mongolian butterflies in the new world.
Mason joined the Academy in 2009. He is interested in the biogeography of diurnal Lepidoptera, specifically in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, and systematics of butterfly fauna in central Asia.