International Congresses of Dipterology

David Yeates (Chairman), Neal Evenhuis (Vice Chairman), Adrian Pont (Secretary), David Barraclough, Claudio Carvalho, James O’Hara, Brian Wiegmann, Junichi Yukawa, Manuel Zumbado.

1. Apologies for absence
   Apologies for absence were received from Marc Pollet, Marion Kotrba and John Stoffolano.

2. Approval of minutes
   Minutes of the last meeting in Brisbane were approved. Proposed by Jim O'Hara, seconded by Junichi Yukawa.

3. Secretary/Treasurer’s report
   The Secretary gave a brief report on his activities since the last Congress, and raised again the subject of the Council funds, which currently stand at GBP 79.63 (US$ 149.81, Euros 118.12).

   Neal Evenhuis suggested that the funds might be used to fund a medal for distinguished services to dipterology, along the lines of medals awarded in other entomological disciplines. This gave rise to some discussion: how could further funds be raised to make such an award appropriately meaningful, would it not add complexity to ICD Council procedures and even duplicate the Honorary Members of Congress system already in place, would not the Council funds, small as they are, be better combined with a sum levied on all Congress participants to provide seed money for the next Congress. It was agreed that Neal Evenhuis would investigate further the practicalities of a medal or some other form of recognition, and give some ideas at the next meeting.

4. Chairman’s report
   The Chairman presented a brief report, saying that the ICD is represented at least in title on various international scientific associations such as the IUBS; the Encyclopedia of Associations: International Organizations (IO) (published by Thomson Gale www.gale.com); and the Yearbook of International Organizations (Union of International Associations, Rue Washington 40, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium http://www.uia.org/). The matter of representation at the next IUBS meeting was deferred to "any other business".

5. The Congress website
   Jim O'Hara was thanked for his excellent work with the ICD website. He explained that the site is hosted by a server at the University of Guelph at no charge.

6. Honorary Congress Members
   Nominations for Honorary Membership were: Ev Schlinger, proposed by David Yeates and seconded by Neal Evenhuis; and Monty Wood, proposed by Jim O'Hara and seconded by Manuel Zumbado. David and Jim spoke briefly about each of the candidates, whose careers and achievements were well known to all present.

   Following a paper ballot, both were unanimously elected as Honorary Members of the International Congresses of Dipterology. Their election would be announced by the Chairman at the opening plenary session of Congress.

7. New Members of Council
   Five members had reached the end of their term (Claudio Carvalho, Dan Hagan, John Stoffolano, Brian Wiegmann, Junichi Yukawa), and only Brian Wiegmann wished to remain on Council for another period. The following were nominated for Council membership:

   Brian Wiegmann (USA). Proposed by Adrian Pont, seconded by Claudio Carvalho.
   Irina Brake (Germany). Proposed by Brian Wiegmann, seconded by Neal Evenhuis.
   Marcia Couri (Brazil). Proposed by Claudio Carvalho, seconded by Adrian Pont.
   Rudolf Meier (Singapore). Proposed by David Yeates, seconded by Brian Wiegmann.
   Thomas Pape (Denmark). Proposed by Manuel Zumbado, seconded by Jim O'Hara.
   Masaaki Suwa (Japan). Proposed by Junichi Yukawa, seconded by Brian Wiegmann.
   Shaun Winterton (Australia). Proposed by David Yeates, seconded by Neal Evenhuis.

   Following a paper ballot, Brian Wiegmann was re-elected and the other six were elected as members of Council. Their election would be announced by the Chairman at the opening plenary session of Congress.

   The question was raised as to how names were selected for membership of Council. Was the process proactive or reactive, i.e. did people put their names forward or were they invited to put themselves forward. The Secretary pointed out that the process was generally reactive: a name would be suggested to himself or to the Chairman, and then that person's agreement to being nominated would be sought. It was again stressed that Council attempted to have members representing a broad range of dipterological interests, geographic regions and gender, and the fact that most members of Council are systematists in the broadest sense was actually a reflection of the Congress membership. It was decided that the Chairman would again draw attention to Council membership at the final plenary session, and invite delegates who wished to serve on Council to put their names forward for election at the 2010 Congress.

8. Passing of dipterists
   Neal Evenhuis was thanked for his work in compiling the list of dipterists who have passed away since 1998, but it was considered that the list was too long to read out at the plenary session. It was decided to put it on a notice board for people to read, and individual Workshop organisers could then honour their dead in appropriate fashion. It was also decided to post the list on the Congress website, and to keep it updated. However, it was felt that the opening plenary session would be an appropriate time to announce the deaths of two Honorary Members of Congress, Antony Downes (Canada) and Elmo Hardy (Hawaii, USA), and to have one minute of silence in their memory.

9. Resolution from the 2002 Congress
   The Chairman noted that the resolution concerning the current state of biosystematics in South African museums had received no response from the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, and David Barraclough reported that there had been no perceptible change in the situation in South African museums.

10. Location of the Seventh International Congress of Dipterology, 2010
    The Chairman pointed out that the submission of two bids to host ICD7, from Costa Rica and from St Petersburg, reflected well the vitality of dipterology. It was the most important task of Council to take this decision, which was often extremely difficult as every bid has considerable merit, and it was important also to sound out the opinion of delegates. The fact that there were bids from Costa Rica and St Petersburg would be announced at the opening Plenary session, and delegates would be invited to make their views known to Council members.

    The bid for Costa Rica was proposed by Manuel Zumbado:

    Manuel gave a PowerPoint presentation, and a summary of his proposal is given here. With only two dipterists in Costa Rica, assistance would be needed to organise the scientific programme, but domestic arrangements (accommodation, transport, post-Congress tours, etc) could be organised on the spot. Costa Rica is a small tropical country with a stable political situation and a rich biodiversity. 25% of the country is dedicated to national parks and nature reserves. It takes only 4 hours to drive from east to west of the country. The Ramada Herradura Hotel on the edge of San Jose would be the venue for the Congress. It is 5 minutes drive from the airport and has a capacity for 1200 people. There are several other hotels in the vicinity which will offer a favourable rate for delegate accommodation, and also a shopping mall. Reservations can be made via the web. A local experienced travel agency would take care of transport, excursions, field trips, and there would be special rates for flights from the USA to Costa Rica. The registration fee will be around $300, maximally $350. There would be funding from the Bureau of Tourism, and also support for students to travel. August would be the best month, with a pleasant climate and good possibilities for fieldwork. A deposit of $5000 would be needed to reserve the Congress centre, which is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment for presentations. INBIO was strongly supportive of the bid, and there would be no problem securing collecting permits. Public transport is good (buses, trains, rental cars). Costa Rica is bilingual, Spanish and English.

    The bid for St Petersburg was presented briefly by Adrian Pont, based on information sent him by Vadim Zaitzev:

    St Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, founded by Peter the Great in the early 18th century. It is served by Pulkova international airport to the west, and a few kilometres further west is Peterhof, Peter the Great's summer palace and now the focal point of a small town which also houses the university faculties and student accommodation. Peterhof is where the Congress would be held. Adrian was able to give his impressions of St Petersburg from visits in 2000 and 2001, but could add little to the information given by Vadim. There is a group of dipterists at the Zoological Institute, several of whom would still be there in 2010, and there would be no problem forming an organisation committee for the scientific programme. The venue would be attractive for the large number of Russian and European dipterists, for whom travel outside Europe was financially impossible.

    In the discussion that followed, Manuel was thanked for his very detailed and comprehensive presentation. It was generally felt that the St Petersburg presentation was too sparse, with insufficient detail about accommodation and costs. Some felt that a return of the Congress to Europe was desirable; others that it was time to return to the New World (for the first time since Guelph, 1994) and to have a Neotropical location for the first time. The question of the cost of St Petersburg for dipterists from eastern Europe was raised, but was thought to be no longer an issue.

11. Any other business
    The possibility was discussed of asking a dipterist to represent ICD at the next IUBS meeting in Washington in May 2007. It was felt that although there might be little to be gained from this it was important for dipterology to be represented on international bodies. It was decided to consult with previous members of Council who had attended IUBS meetings as to the merits of this, and to ask Chris Thompson if he would be willing to represent ICD at the next IUBS meeting.

    Neal Evenhuis asked if there would be a notice board for messages for delegates, to which the answer was affirmative. He also suggested that a list of delegates registering for each ICD should be posted on the web as the organisation of the Congress proceeded, so that all could see who was intending to attend.

    In concluding the meeting, the Chairman asked that Council members should continue to be aware of the need for new names to be proposed for Council membership at the 2010 meeting.

The meeting closed at 1620 hours.

The principal matter for discussion and decision was the location of the next Congress, and Adrian Pont and Manuel Zumbado gave brief resumés of their proposals for St Petersburg and Costa Rica. Jim O'Hara also communicated the views of Monty Wood, Honorary Member of the International Congresses of Dipterology, who had visited St Petersburg in the 1990s.

Adrian and Manuel left the room, and a vote among the remaining members of Council was taken. It was unanimously in favour of Costa Rica.

In commenting on this decision, the Chairman pointed out that it was already more than twelve years since a Congress had been accessible in practice for the many dipterists from Russia and eastern Europe, and that he was mindful of the need to search for possible sources of financial support to enable delegates from those countries to attend ICD7. Brian Wiegmann offered to investigate the possibilities for this with the NSF and other funding agencies in the USA. It was also felt that a return to Europe for ICD8 (2014) would be appropriate.

1. ICD7 should have a theme, something that would draw the attention of the general public to the Congress and to the activities of dipterists (and of Diptera!), and that would also lead to some cross-fertilisation from other scientific fields. Examples could be conservation or climate change.
2. The need for regular and close communication between organisers and Council was stressed, so that Council could make appropriate input into the organisational process.
3. There should again be a student competition, as in Brisbane, as this was not expensive and would encourage younger people to participate.

The matter of a commemorative medal for high excellence of achievement in dipterology was again briefly discussed. Neal Evenhuis gave an outline of the possibilities and practicalities, and undertook to formulate a proposal, including the setting up of a committee to formulate criteria (whether of Council members or others or both), and would send this out by e-mail. The award would only be made at an ICD, and would be something very special.

David Yeates mentioned the items that he would be announcing at the final plenary session, and alluded to the next Council meeting, which would be at the International Congress of Entomology in South Africa in 2008.

The meeting closed at 1300 hours.

Adrian C. Pont
Secretary/Treasurer
2 October 2006