Online WaspID Course

Registration is now open for the WaspID Course, a new, online course on wasp identification and biodiversity produced by a team of entomologists and insect research programs from around the world, including Hawthorne Valley Farm’s Farmscape Ecology Program.

Designed for students, amateur naturalists, practical entomologists, or anyone with an interest in wasps, the WaspID Course will introduce participants to wasps’ astonishing biodiversity, review methods for collecting and curating wasp specimens according to current museum standards, and impart the knowledge needed to identify specimens of most adult wasps to the superfamily and family levels. Kendrick Fowler, Farmscape’s insect technician and resident wasp expert, will be lecturing on the Diaprioidea, a superfamily of parasitoid wasps whose members are often abundant, but are rarely studied.

The course will be delivered in a series of live, online sessions on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from January 3–14, 2022; recorded material will also be made available to allow participants to complete the course on their own schedules. Tuition will be $60 for the general public and $45 for students. For more information, contact the course organizers at WaspIDCourse@gmail.com. You can register here.