Emma Califf, Invertebrate Keeper, The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Monday, August 1, 2022,
2:30-3:30 pm,
ASA Koffler Great Room
Every year during the monsoons, one of the largest beetles in North America at up to 3 ½inches, Derobrachus hovorei can be found buzzing around the desert in search of a mate. The iconic Palo Verde Beetle spends two to three years in its larval state, boring into the roots of unhealthy palos verdes and other vulnerable trees. When it emerges from its dormant subterranean pupa, it will live for less than a month as an adult, seeking to breed and lay its eggs for the next generation.
The Sonoran Desert is home to a diverse array of ecological niches, like that of the Palo Verde Beetle, making it a hub for arthropod activity and a prime location for research. Emma Califf, Invertebrate Keeper at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, will discuss sustainable collecting, rearing, and conservation processes for some of the Sonoran Desert’s native invertebrates. She will also touch on the techniques she employs when creating a voice for this largely undervalued group of animals and how she aims to influence a more positive public perception of invertebrates.
Emma is a recent graduate of Iowa State University, where she received a bachelor’s degree in biology with a focus in insect science. She has five years’ experience studying invertebrates and their ecology in both husbandry and research capacities. She is currently a part of the Herpetology, Ichthyology and Invertebrate Zoology Department at the Desert Museum, where in addition to desert invertebrates, she engages in the husbandry of native amphibians and venomous reptiles. She builds and maintains the museum’s invertebrate collection in support of her mission to provide learning opportunities for visitors of all ages, focusing on conservation and safe interaction with the sometimes dangerous invertebrates people encounter in their daily lives.
Edited by Suzanne Ferguson, Academy Village Volunteer