Austin, Texas, is home to about 170 species of butterflies. It is also the home of the Austin Butterfly Forum, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to butterfly conservation and to enriching people's lives through butterflies. The Austin Butterfly Forum is a club that organizes field trips, conducts butterfly counts, promotes native gardening, performs conservation activities, and meets monthly for an educational presentation. We are a community of butterfly enthusiasts who also enjoy dragonflies & damselflies, bees, beetles, spiders and arthropods in general, and our meeting presentations span this gamut as well. Join Us!

Jewel Beetle

Meetings are held in the Zilker Garden Center, 2220 Barton Springs Rd., Austin, TX, 78746 at 7:00 PM on the fourth Monday of each month except December.

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Apr. 22, 2019, 7 PM meeting: Buprestidae: A jewel of a beetle, presented by Jason Hansen.

Buprestids, or jewel beetles, are one of the most diverse and popular families of beetles. They were well known to ancient Egyptians, Romans and Greeks who carved them in stone, used them for medicine and even considered them acceptable dinner fare! Come hear Jason speak about their life history, how to identify adults and immatures, and most timely, Jason will discuss what the coming emerald ash borer may mean for our ash trees. The EAB, a major pest, was recently found in northeast and north-central Texas.

Jason works for USDA-APHIS-PPQ as an Entomologist Identifier in Los Indios, Texas. Before working for PPQ he spent 3 years at the APHIS quarantine rearing facility on Cape Cod Massachusetts. He also worked in Michigan monitoring and deploying biocontrol agents for emerald ash borer. He has a B.S. in zoology, an M.S. in environmental biology and a PhD. in entomology. His graduate work focused on clearwing moth and buprestid species complexes, using DNA and morphology to distinguish closely related species. He enjoys family, the outdoors and most of all collecting beetles anywhere he can find them.

There will be field trips on Sunday and Monday. We will meet Sunday, April 21 at 9 a.m. Commons Ford Metropolitan Park, 614 N. Commons Ford Rd. When you drive down the road, go to the end where there is parking near the barn and portable restrooms. We end around noon. This is a outing to enjoy nature, butterflies, and insects, with our guest speaker, Jason Hansen, PhD entomologist.

On Monday, April 22, we will meet at the Lady Bird Wildflower Center at 9 am for another nature outing with Jason Hansen. It will go till noon. Meet near the Great Horned Owl nest near the gift shop. Note that admission is $12 for adults. We will end around noon.

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May 27, 2019, 7 PM meeting: TBA