Our Presenter:

Jason Dombroskie has had a lifelong interest in nature and started seriously collecting moths at the age of 12 for over ten years in his childhood backyard in Round Lake Centre. He obtained a BSc. Hon. in Biological Sciences from the University of Guelph and his PhD was on aspects of archipine [Tortricidae] evolution at the University of Alberta.  Since 2012 he has worked as the manager for the Cornell University Insect Collection and the coordinator for the Insect Diagnostic Lab in Ithaca, NY.

The Presentation:

This intimate journey into the hidden lives of moths and their caterpillars will look at some of the amazing species in your backyard.  Some of these moths take medicine to fight parasites, bubble poison from their necks, produce perfume that can be smelled from kilometers away, or jam bat echolocation.  We will also examine caterpillars with gills, stinky tentacles, and horns that squirt acid, as well as ones that throw their feces, and others that live inside regurgitated owl pellets.  Additionally, we will explore how individual species have and continue to shape entire ecosystems across Renfrew County.

Biography:

Jason Dombroskie has had a lifelong interest in nature and started seriously collecting moths at the age of 12.  Over ten years of collecting moths in his childhood backyard in Round Lake Centre, he collected over 1000 species of moths.  From 1996 to 2005 he worked as a naturalist in Algonquin Provincial Park where he delivered popular educational programs as well as document the moth diversity culminating in nearly 1000 confirmed species.  He obtained a BSc. Hon. in Biological Sciences from the University of Guelph and his PhD was on aspects of archipine [Tortricidae] evolution at the University of Alberta.  Since 2012 he has worked as the manager for the Cornell University Insect Collection and the coordinator for the Insect Diagnostic Lab in Ithaca, NY.  Jason has published 20 scientific papers in entomology including a matrix-based key to the Lepidoptera of Canada.  Current research in his lab focuses on systematics of the tribe Archipini (Tortricidae) in the New World, but some of his students work or have worked on other Tortricidae, Argyresthiidae, Mimallonidae, Geometridae, and Tridactylidae.