International Congresses of Dipterology

1. Minutes of the last meeting
   The minutes of the last meeting held in September 2006 at the International Congress of Dipterology in Fukuoka, prepared by Adrian Pont (Secretary) and posted on the Council’s web site (http://www.nadsdiptera.org/ICD/Icd6min.htm), were approved. Thomas Pape expressed thanks to Adrian Pont.

2. Report of the Secretary
   The report of the Secretary had been circulated together with the agenda of the present meeting, as follows: “Beyond the usual duties of circulating the minutes of the last Council meeting, preparing an Agenda for this meeting, and maintaining contact with members of Council, there had been little activity for the Secretary”. The report was accepted.

3. Next congress
   Thomas Pape outlined on behalf of Manuel Zumbado the progress with the organisation of ICD7 in San José, Costa Rica, to be held on 8-13 August 2010. The theme will be “Neotropical Dipterology”. The overall cost estimated at USD 80,000 will be balanced by a registration fee of USD 350-400 (suggested early and late fees respectively) from about 200 expected participants. A deposit of USD 5,000 has been made with the Congress Centre. An organisation committee is in place and everything is moving on smoothly and well under control. The Council members expressed their applause to Manuel for his work.

4. Donation to Council from the Organising Committee of ICD6 in 2006
   The ICD6 in Fukuoka came out with a surplus. The local organizing committee decided to donate about JPY 600,000 to the Council to assist with the activities of the Council. This amounts to USD 5,600, which has been placed in a separate bank savings account. The existing Council funds will be added to this amount.

5. Proposal for the formation of an International Society of Dipterology
   Thomas Pape read a proposal from ICD Chairman David Yeates as follows:

   "I am now certain that the Diptera community is vibrant and sustainable enough to manage a transformation to the next level. I think that the Council should develop a working paper that considers the establishment of an international scientific society, called The International Society of Dipterology.

   This society would have a number of office bearers (president, vice president, treasurer, journal editor and councillors), take dues from members, and its primary function would be to support one or more publications. 

   The society needs to develop a constitution. We could start with a draft constitution - perhaps from the Hymenopterists society.

   One of the publications would be the Journal of the International Society of Dipterology. This would serve as a vehicle for material currently submitted to Studia Dipterologica, plus other more high impact work. The Society needs to find a good publisher to handle and distribute the journal (Blackwells and Taylor & Francis come to mind). Perhaps MYIA could be an occasional series of the journal or a sister publication. There are many challenges in beginning a new taxon-based journal during the current climate, and it would take a lot of sustained effort (especially from the editor and authors) over many years for it to flourish, and be commercially viable. I am imagining a largely electronic journal along the lines of ZOOTAXA.

   The Council of the Congresses would be an organ of the Society, with a similar role to its current one."

   The Council members discussed the matter and in particular what benefits a global dipterists society could offer its members. Jim O’Hara and Marion Kotrba pointed out that the NADS (North American Dipterists Society) as well as the AK Diptera (Arbeitskreis Diptera in Germany) both function very well without being formal societies. Likewise the members expressed some concerns about the foundation of a new taxon-specific journal at a time when journal impact factor is playing a progressively larger role, and when Zootaxa (and now also Zookeys) is available for taxonomic output. The matter should be brought up again at the next meeting in Costa Rica, when more Council members will be present.

6. New members of the Council for International Dipterology
   In 2010, eight members of Council are due for retirement or re-election (http://www.nadsdiptera.org/ICD/Service.htm). David Yeates, Neal Evenhuis, Adrian Pont and Jim O’Hara have indicated that they will not be seeking re-election. Thomas Pape mentioned that according to the Council constitution, any two members of the Council may nominate a new candidate, and nominations should be sent to the Secretary-Treasurer.

   Marion Kotrba pointed out that it is desirable to have more nominations than actual vacancies to make a true “election” possible.

7. Honorary members of the International Congress of Dipterology
   At present there are six honorary members, and there is one vacancy that could be filled. The matter was briefly discussed.

8. The 2014 Congress
   At ICD7 (2010) the Council will consider where ICD8 (2014) should be held and will evaluate and vote on any bids that are submitted. It is generally felt that ICD8 should be held in Europe. Marion Kotrba reported that German dipterists have already discussed the matter at their meeting in June and are considering submitting a bid. Possible locations would be Berlin, Potsdam, Bonn, Dresden, Munich.

9. Other business
   No other items for discussion were raised.

The meeting was closed at 16:30 hours. Thomas Pape closed the session and thanked the participants and especially David Barraclough for his preparations for the meeting.

Marion Kotrba
Acting Secretary
1 August 2008