60th Annual Meeting of the Lepidopterists' Society, Yale University  

Program, final version:  Click on this PDF logo 
 
 
The Entomology Division of the Peabody Museum of Natural History and the Connecticut Butterfly Association invite you to attend the 60th annual meeting of The Lepidopterists' Society, to be held in New Haven, Connecticut, June 23 through 26.  New Haven is on the shoreline in south-central Connecticut, about 70 miles NE of New York City and 30 miles SW of Hartford.   The weather in late June is generally fair, with high temperatures around 75-85 and lows around 55-65 degrees F.  Lepidoptera are diverse in the state at that time, with good observing and collecting sites close by.

Home base for the meeting will be in the "Science Hill" complex of buildings on the main campus of Yale University.  For those who attended the 50th Anniversary Meeting of the Society at Yale in 1997, the venue will likely be familiar, but much has also changed, most notable being the new 100,000 square foot building (the Class of 1954 Environmental Science Center)  that now houses most of the Peabody's collections, including those for the Entomology Division.

The Executive Council will meet during the day on Thursday 23rd in the Marsh Room at the Peabody Museum, and the opening reception will take place that evening in the Great Hall of Dinosaurs at Peabody.  On Friday 24th during the day, paper sessions and other activities will take place in the main lecture hall in nearby Osborn Memorial Laboratory.  Later Friday afternoon will feature a tour of and barbecue at Yale's new "West Campus" facilities, located a few miles down the road.  Events on Saturday 25th will again be at Osborn, with a return to the Peabody's Great Hall of Dinosaurs for the evening banquet, talk, and awards ceremonies.  The conference will finish in Osborn on Sunday 25th with additional papers and the annual business meeting.

There are five fields trips planned for the Lepidopterists’ Society Annual Meeting.  Sign-up for these is done as part of electronic registration.  Further details about the field trips, such as directions, will be posted in June as the meeting approaches:

Butterflies& Moths: Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, NY; Wednesday 22 June 2011; leader Harry Zirlin; limit 20 individuals; start time 10:00 am; watching only for butterflies, nighttime collecting allowed for moths
Butterflies: West Rock & Lake Wintergreen, CT; Wednesday 22 June 2011; leader Lenny Brown; limit 20 individuals; start time 10:00 am; collecting allowed
Butterflies: West Redding, CT; Thursday 23 June 2011; leader Vic DeMasi; limit 15 individuals; start time 10:00 am; watching only (note: this is a NABA/Xerces Fourth of July Butterfly Count)
Moths: Brooksvale Park, CT; Friday 24 June 2011; leader Hugh McGuiness; limit 35 individuals; start time TBD but will be after the barbeque has finished; collecting allowed
Moths: Killingly, CT; Sunday 26 June 2011; leader Dave Wagner; limit 25 individuals; start time TBD but will be after the meeting has formally adjourned; collecting allowed

The Lepidoptera (and other) collections in the Entomology Division will be open for perusal during the meeting dates.  Anyone wishing to spend more time in the collections before or after the meeting is welcome, and should contact Larry Gall (203-432-9892, lawrence.gall@yale.edu) as soon as feasible.
 

Meeting registration, paper/abstract submission, housing reservations, tickets for box lunches, the barbecue and banquet  should all be obtained online by going to this web address:   www.regonline.com/theLepidopteristsSocietymeeting.  Yale's Conference & Events Services is managing the online activities and if you need assistance you can reach them at 203-432-0465.  Regular registration is $115/person and student registration $95/person, through 3 June 2011 (after that date rates are $150/person and $125/person).  Registration covers the daily events, coffee breaks and reception.  Barbecue tickets are $37/person and banquet tickets $48/person, and are purchased separately (food/dietary choices are online).  Box lunches can be purchased either Friday and/or Saturday for $10/person per day (although there are other lunch options in the area, the box lunches will save time).  A block of rooms has been reserved at the Omni Hotel in downtown New Haven ($129/night, single or double occupancy) as well as in Yale dormitory housing ($85/night, single room in two-person suite). Dorm reservations are made online via the registration form (see web address above); Omni reservations should be made directly with the hotel by calling 1-800-THE-OMNI and noting you are with The Lepidopterists' Society.  Both the Omni and the dorms are about a 15-20 minute walk to Science Hill, with the dorms being closer. 

For those presenting a paper, please submit your title and abstract (125 words or less) by 20 May 2011 online via the registration website (see paragraph above), to guarantee inclusion in the meeting program.  Each paper is a total of 15 minutes; allow 12 minutes to talk and 3 minutes for questions. Limit is one presented paper per person. 

Air travel to New Haven is most economical through Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark and/or Westchester County airports in the New York City area.  Amtrak and Metro North both provide rail service to New Haven. To drive to the Peabody: take Exit 3 (Trumbull Street) off Interstate 91, go straight (west) through the first stop light (Orange Street) and turn right (north) at the second stop light onto Whitney Avenue.  The museum is two blocks north at the next stop light (170 Whitney Avenue), at the intersection of Whitney Avenue and Sachem Street.  Osborn Memorial Laboratory and the Environmental Science Center are located on Sachem Street just west of the Peabody Museum.  Hope to see you in June!