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MYRMECIA

News Bulletin of the Australian Entomological Society Inc. Volume 56, Part 2, May 2020

1 austentsoc.org.au Myrmecia Volume 56, Part 2, May 2020

MYRMECIACONTENTS

PHIL CARNE PRIZE 2

THE IAN MACKERRAS MEDAL 4

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESSES OF ENTOMOLOGY 5

SCHOLARSHIPS 7

REGIONAL NEWS 8

Tasmania 8

Australian Capital Territory 9

South Australia 13

Queensland 15

Northern Territory 22

Western Australia 25

MYRMECIA ANECDOTES 27

AN INDEX TO MYRMECIA 28

Notice Statements made in Myrmecia do not necessarily represent the views of the

Australian Entomological Society

The editors, Stacey Anderson and Samantha Ward assume no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions of the original submissions supplied for this issue of Myrmecia.


Phil Carne Prize 2020

About the Award

The Society’s Phil Carne Prize is aimed at fostering high quality entomological research in young scientists. The name of the prize celebrates contributions made by Dr Phil Carne to the science of entomology and the Australian Entomological Society.

The prize is a certificate and also includes cash remuneration to the value of $1500. Finalists in the competition are selected by assessment of the submitted entries and all finalists are invited to present their papers at the Society’s Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference. A maximum of $1000 for each finalist will be provided towards conference expenses (registration, travel, accommodation) on receipts. The finalist presentations will be assessed and a Phil Carne Prize winner selected.

The following is a note on past recipients: from 1986 to 1989, the prize was known as the ‘AES Student Award for Outstanding Research’. Geoff Allen, Kate Mossop and Ross Lardner were awarded the prize under that name. Prior to 1986, it was known simply as the ‘AES Student Award’. In 1990, it became the Phil Carne Prize.

Eligibility

The prize is open to any honours or postgraduate student enrolled in an Australian University, either full-time or part-time, who has not submitted their thesis by the closing date. Entrants have to be members of the Australian Entomological Society.


Entry

Entries for the prize should be in the form of a scientific paper that deals with research on any entomological topic (or allied group of terrestrial organisms such as mites or spiders). The paper can be in the form of a scientific manuscript ready for publication, a paper that has been accepted for publication or a paper published since the beginning of the previous year to the closing date, but must result from the student’s higher degree studies.

Entries are to be the sole work of the entrant, apart from the normally accepted input of academic supervisors, and are to be based on work undertaken while enrolled as a student. A committee of at least three people, to be appointed by the Society's President, will judge the overall scientific merit of each entry and a list of finalists selected. The finalists will be supported to attend the Society's conference in that year to present their paper and the presentation will form part of the assessment of the winner.

Using the link available on the Australian entomology society website (https://www.austentsoc.org.au/awards/the-phil-carne-prize/).

Submissions due by 31 August 2020


The Ian Mackerras Medal

2020

About the Award

The Society’s award for excellence in entomology at mid-career will be the Ian Mackerras Medal and is given every two years (even years) to a member of the Society who is judged by the Board as being mid-career and who has demonstrated excellence in entomology over many years.

The award is named in honour of Dr Ian Mackerras, the Society’s first President and an entomologist who embodied the excellence in entomological pursuits that the award recognises.

Nominations

Nominations for the award are due by 31 August of an award year: Using the link available on the Australian entomology society website (https://www.austentsoc.org.au/awards/the-ian-mackerras-medal/), complete the online form and provide:

1. Full name and current position of the nominee. 2. Full name(s) and contact details of the nominator(s). 3. In no more than two pages, provide details of the nominee's contribution to entomology which you

believe qualifies him/her for this prestigious award. 4. Add details of the nominee's contribution towards the AES and entomological community in Australia

generally. 5. There is an expectation that the successful nominee will attend the next AES conference for the medal

presentation and will deliver a keynote address. An abstract for the latter should accompany the nomination.

6. Developing the keynote address into a review paper for Austral Entomology is encouraged.

Submissions due by 31 August 2020


International congresses in the age of pandemics – 26th ICE in Helsinki

International Congresses of Entomology have been organised over a period of more than 100 years. The legacy of the previous 25 ICE congresses, and their influence on the area of entomology during a century, gives an intriguing motivation to live up to great expectations and to organise the 26th ICE in Helsinki, Finland. In the context of our contemporary world, congresses are vital to the success of our discipline of entomology. Congresses enhance, stimulate and create knowledge, innovation and collaboration. Professional collegiality, networking and knowledge sharing by delegates and the companies or organizations that they represent, are vital components of hosting congresses.

We prepared our bid approximately 4-5 years ago, for the privilege to organise the 26th International Congress of Entomology: ICE2020Helsinki. The range of countries bidding for this event was small, a fact which is reflected also in the prospect that for 2024 only one or two countries apparently are preparing to submit a bid. We think that this reflects the enormous workload involved - mostly voluntary work by the organizing team, the high expenses associated with it, and the economic insecurity associated with this endeavor.

We know from European colleagues that many of them considered to bid for ICE2020 and would have liked to organise the congress – but did not prepare a bid, because the risks of the whole operation in the end fall on the organizing team. This includes personal economic risks for example for high down-payment requests for the venue, for which usually no mechanisms exist to cover them. Please be reminded that the excellent conditions which the ESA had for ICE2016 (Orlando, Florida) by getting the congress venue for free from the city of Orlando, we do not have in Helsinki. We also depend on the good-will of hundreds of volunteers globally. We received this enormous support, and we hope that all entomological societies globally encourage their members to support us during the coming months to get the 26th ICE successfully organised in Helsinki next year.

To organise a congress, multiple skills are required. The congress host needs to work with those individuals who are willing, and in a position to influence directly or indirectly the congress decisions by the professional institutions to which they belong. To enable this, we at the 26th ICE in Helsinki have relied on scientists, academic leaders, business leaders and political and social leaders and commentators.

This international cooperation includes a long-term commitment stretching over more than four years (in our case over more than five years) of the organizing committee to create and establish the program. It is our mandate to ensure alignment of the objectives with those of the key stakeholders in the area of entomology. The organisers need a core-group of hundreds of people distributed globally who have a long-term commitment to the ICE congresses. Our thanks to the section organisers, symposium organisers, sponsors, exhibitors, volunteers, the ICE council (see listings at the congress website: www.ice2020helsinki.fi), and above all, congress participants. This effort has resulted in over 250 fantastic scientific symposia being arranged for ICE2020Helsinki over a period of 6 days on topics covering all aspects of entomology.

http://www.ice2020helsinki.fi/


During March 2020 we were facing a difficult decision, with only two options concerning the organization of the 26th ICE in Helsinki:

1. keep to our original schedule and host the Congress on 19-24 July 2020 in Helsinki, or

2. postpone the Congress by one year to the only available alternative dates: 18-23 July 2021

Implications of these options include:

1. It was obvious that restrictions on travel due to the pandemic would severely limit attendance. For the

most part, these restrictions were imposed in mid-March, after our deadline of 1 March to cancel

registrations and to be eligible for refunds.

2. Given the impracticality of hosting a Congress without the participation of many of the world’s

entomologists, we decided to postpone the Congress by a year at a time when travel restrictions would

ostensibly be lifted, and participants allowed to travel again. This decision was made in good faith and in

order to provide the world entomological community the congress they deserve. This postponement

allows you to attend the congress next year, and not to lose the registration fees as would have happened

under option (1).

We are determined to hold ICE2020Helsinki in July 2021. We believe that flexibility and resourcefulness are required given the current situation. For example, funding agencies are extending their grant expiration and reporting deadlines, because currently hardly anyone can conduct research as planned. Therefore, we would urge those who are affected by the policies of granting agencies to approach them and request flexibility in this unusual situation. Allowing the transfer of the registration to another person appears to be a workable alternative for all parties. Here we urge national entomological societies to establish at their Facebook site a trading service for their members to enable selling and buying of registrations to the 26th ICE in Helsinki. Facilitating trading at the national level makes contacting and payments easy, compared with international money transfers.

In this situation, we all need to be willing to invest time and energy to find solutions. Just as we at the ICE2020Helsinki organising team have invested our time and work in the past years, we pledge to continue that investment in the months to come, for the benefit of the world entomological community. We have the will to host the 26th ICE congress in 2021 as announced. I hope you share our determination.

Heikki Hokkanen President of the ICE2020Helsinki Organising Committee [email protected]@gmail.com

Ingeborg Menzler-Hokkanen Secretary-General of the ICE2020Helsinki Organising Committee [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


Fully funded PhD or MPhil scholarship available

The Australian Grains Pest Innovation Program (AGPIP) is offering 4 fully funded scholarships for students interested in cutting-edge science, environmental sustainability and agricultural innovation.

AGPIP is a collaboration between the Pest & Environmental Adaptation Research Group at the University of Melbourne and Cesar. The Program is a co-investment by the Grains Research and Development Corporation and the University of Melbourne, together with in-kind contributions from all program partners. AGPIP is looking at improved sustainability in invertebrate pest management practices among Australian grain growers.

As a scholarship recipient, you will work in a collaborative team at the University of Melbourne under the supervision of renowned Laureate Professor Ary Hoffmann, Associate Professor Paul Umina, Dr Jessica Lye, Dr James Maino, Dr Perran Stott-Ross, Dr Qiong Yang, Dr Xinyue Gu and other notable researchers.

You will have the opportunity to select from a number of different research topics and speciality areas, including:

• Interactions between symbionts and virus transmission for agricultural pest control

• A genetic investigation of bacterial symbionts in vector aphids

• Manipulating bacterial symbionts in aphids for improved pest control

• Exploring interactions between symbionts and parasitoid wasps

• Understanding the real costs of neonicotinoids in Australian agriculture

• Predicting migration cues in aphids

• Exploring the role of plant stress in pest outbreaks

• Investigating the role of knowledge types in pest management decision-making

• Exploration of the environmental factors influencing knowledge transfer.

For information or to apply, email the Pest & Environmental Adaptation Research Group ([email protected]) at the University of Melbourne

mailto:[email protected]


Tasmania

After 9 years and two kids, Raylea Rowbottom has submitted her PhD thesis investigating the ecology and epidemiology of Ross River virus mosquitoes in Tasmanian salt marshes. Raylea has already published most of her findings in the journals PLOS ONE, The Journal of Veterinary and Medical Entomology and Vector Ecology with a fourth manuscript currently in review. Congratulations Raylea!

Ryan Warren has completed his first field season investigating the impact agricultural production systems have on European honey bee health and behaviour using his newly developed RFID system. Ryan will spend his winter buried in data analysis, ‘trying to work out what the hell it all means’, planning for his final season and writing his first paper in collaboration with Andrew Barron (MU) and Théotime Colin (USyd).

Geoff Allen and Stephen Quarrell have had another PhD candidate commence, with MengYong Lim starting his project investigating how commonly used agrochemicals in cherries and carrot seed crops impact on the microbiome, health and behaviour of honey bees.

S. QUARRELL


Australian Capital Territory

The Australian National Insect Collection is a strangely quiet place at the moment. Staff are working from home as much as possible, volunteers and Honorary Fellows are conspicuous by their absence, and the Visiting Scientist program has been suspended until further notice. We are not processing loans, social functions have been cancelled, and staff meetings are taking place by teleconferencing. Despite all those constraints, we have maintained most of our research programs, and we are still able to announce some significant achievements.

We welcome two new members of the ANIC team. Daniel Dashevsky did his undergraduate education in Alaska and Oregon, and moved to Brisbane in 2016 to do a PhD at the University of Queensland. His thesis was on the molecular biology of snake venoms, and he is now applying his skills to a study of Pompilid wasp venoms with Juanita Rodriguez. Siwanon Paphatmethin received his basic education at Suranaree University of Technology in Thailand. He is now working on a Master's degree at ANU, revising the taxonomically neglected Australian endemic moth genus Symphyta (Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae).

We congratulate Adam Ślipiński for receiving the award as Australia's Top Zoologist. The League of Scholars collects data on scholars from the top 5,000 universities and research institutions worldwide, using information from a wide range of public data sources, and in November 2019 they announced that Adam was Australia’s top-ranked scholar in the field of Zoology. Anyone who is familiar with Adam's highly successful and productive laboratory will agree that this award was very well deserved.

We are also pleased to announce several important new publications. Volume 2 of Australian Beetles appeared in November 2019, edited by Adam Ślipiński and John Lawrence (ISBN 9780643097308). The 748-page long volume includes chapters on 36 families of Australian beetles written by 23 researchers from Australia, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and USA. The habitus of almost every genus is depicted in colour and the identification keys are richly illustrated. It covers many conspicuous and popular families of beetles, including Carabidae, Buprestidae, Scarabaeidae and Tenebrionidae. Ladybird Beetles of the Australo-Pacific Region, by Adam Ślipiński, Jiahui Li and Hong Pang, was published in March 2020 (ISBN 9781486303878).


The publication covers 95 species of the tribe Coccinellini, the true ladybird beetles, of Australia, New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. All species of ladybirds are diagnosed, described and richly illustrated in colour. It includes a special key to identification of the Australian species using external colour pattern, which will be useful for identifying common species often seen in gardens and natural landscapes. Both books were made possible by the dedication and skills of Cate Lemann, and by direct and indirect funding and support received from the Australian Biological Resources Study and the Department of the Agriculture and Water Resources.

Hawkmoths of Australia: Identification, Biology and Distribution also appeared recently, as Volume 13 in the series Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera (ISBN 9781486302819). ANIC Lepidopterist Marianne Horakdid a heroic job of coordinating the work of co-authors Max Moulds, Jim Tuttle and David Lane, as well as significant contributions from Ian Kitching, David Rentz, and an army of enthusiastic amateurs. The book includes detailed colour illustrations of the larvae and pupae 71 of the 87 species as well as comprehensive information about the life cycles and biology of these spectacular creatures.


Laurence Mound and the thrips team announce the publication of Thysanoptera Australiensis: An identification and information system to thrips in Australia. This Lucid information and identification system illustrates 340 species in 100 genera, including a key to world families of this Order. Access is via smartphone as well as desktop, and was issued at the end of March on the Lucid web site: https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/thrips_australia/.

ANIC staff managed to conduct field work before the current travel restrictions were imposed. Hermes Escalona, Living Li, Zhenhua Liu and Yun Hsiao went north to Bellenden Ker, Atherton, Kuranda and Mount Lewis collecting beetles for PhD projects, especially Tenebrionidae and Curculionidae. The beetle crew also collected around Melbourne, in the Otway Ranges and Yarra Ranges National Parks. Nicholas Porch from Deakin University joined the team to locate the best patches of dense forest where the soil was still damp, despite the lack of rain. One of the highlights was a good haul of specimens in the endemic family, Lamingtoniidae.

Hermes Escalona and Nick Porch collected in Tasmania, with Simon Grove from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. They collected beetles for DNA sequencing, from temperate forest in the South West, around Mount Field, Mount Barrow and around Weldborough. Keith Bayless and Olivia Evangelista went further afield, collecting flies, bugs, and wasps in the South Island of New Zealand. They collected along Tomahawk Lagoon and Sullivans Dam, where the huge old Nothofagus trees yielded a wide variety of acalyptrate flies, including some treasures from the families Heleomyzidae, Helosciomyzidae, and Pseudopomyzidae. The best find of the trip was a specimen of Prosochaeta, a highly divergent member of the New Zealand endemic family Huttoninidae, which has never been placed in phylogenetic context.

https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/thrips_australia/


Before the shutters came down, ANIC staff contributed to several training courses and workshops. Mike Hodda led the 14th Nematode Identification and Techniques workshop at the University of Adelaide in December 2019. Mike, Kerrie Davies from the University of Adelaide and Dorota Porazinska from the University of Florida introduced a class of 13 Australian and international students to the latest techniques in the study of nematodes, with lectures and interactive laboratory sessions on sampling, extraction, specimen preparation, culturing, diagnosis, and identification.

The Australian Native Bee Conference was held in Brisbane on December 2019, and, at that meeting a group of native bee researchers from around Australia established the Australian Native Bee Genomics Synthesis Group. The group was funded by the Centre for Biodiversity Analysis (Australian National University), CSIRO and the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (Western Sydney University), and was organised by Simon Tierney (WSU), Saul Cunningham (ANU) and Juanita Rodriguez (ANIC). The main goal of this synthesis group is to review our knowledge on Australian bee taxonomy, diversity and genomics, and to plan a unified bee dataset, which will include information on diversity, plant-pollinator interactions, spatial patterns, and molecular resources.

In February 2020, the University of New South Wales hosted the Pentatomoidea Diagnostics Workshop for members of the National Plant Biosecurity Diagnostics Network. Eighteen participants from federal and state-based agencies in Australia and New Zealand gathered for the five-day event, focusing on the identification of economically significant stinkbugs. Three of the participants are located in ANIC – Olivia Evangelista, Thomas Wallenius and Chris Palmer. Training on stinkbug systematics and ecology was provided by specialists Gerry Cassis (USNW) and Cristiano Feldens Schwertner (Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil). Hemipteran specialists are rare in Australia, so every opportunity to develop our taxonomic capacity and research infrastructure in this group is very welcome.

Finally, we said a sad farewell to Peter Macnicol, one of our longstanding volunteers, who passed away on 27 December 2019. When Peter retired from his career in the CSIRO Division of Plant Industry, he joined ANIC as a volunteer in the Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera sections. Peter was quiet, considerate, self-effacing, and gentlemanly and determined, with a subtle sense of humour who took genuine pleasure in his work. The staff of ANIC would like to express their sincere condolences to Pat, his wife of over 60 years, his son Douglas, and to all his extended family.

B. HALLIDAY


South Australia

South Australian AES members are very quiet at the moment, with people working from home - see pictures below of Erinn Fagan-Jeffries sorting Malaise traps and prepping lecture slides (left) and Dona Kireta (right) prepping bee legs for DNA extraction from their homes. Entomology continues even in a pandemic!

Entomologists continuing to work from home – sometimes with additional four-legged help.

Andy Austin from the University of Adelaide reports on the challenges of teaching future entomologists over the last few weeks:

“One of the challenges during these interesting times is, with very short notice, having to deliver everything to undergraduate students as online content. The level III Entomology course at Adelaide University, Evolution and Diversity of Insects, runs in semester I and is taught by Prof Andy Austin, Dr Erinn Fagan-Jeffries and PhD student Alana Delaine. In week 2 of this 12 week course we were informed by the senior management group of the University that all course materials would need to shift to on-line delivery within 10 days’ time, as students would not be allowed on campus from week 4 onwards. For lectures this was not a major problem as we could upload recorded lectures from 2019, or re-record them to go up on MyUni, the main internet delivery system for course content used by many Australian Universities. However, delivering practical classes was going to be a different matter, which normally comprises 4 hours of laboratory work per week”.


Our fall-back was the major project undertaken by each student which normally comprises a minimum of 150 species, with an expectation of presenting specimens belonging to 70 families across 15 orders. Instead of acting as demonstrators in the 12 lab classes, Alana Delaine and Brock Hedges have developed a number of videos on collecting, mounting and labelling techniques, which have been supplemented by similar videos already available on the internet. In addition, we are running a 2-hour zoom meeting with students to help them identify their specimens. So far, all seems to be running smoothly, with good student engagement, but we wait to see their collections!

Brock Hedges and Alana Delaine have been collecting (left) and making tutorial videos (right) to help the undergraduate students learn how to identify and prepare specimens for their collections whilst in isolation.

E. FAGAN-JEFFRIES


Queensland

Queensland Museum (Entomology and Arachnology)

The Queensland Museum has begun the programme of capital works that will affect the collection areas over the next 8 months at least. The QM Entomology and Arachnology collections are closed for visitors and outgoing loans until January 2021 (pending works completion). There is potential interruption to services and access into 2021. Please do not return loans until coronavirus restrictions are lifted, and even then, please contact Curators or Collection Managers directly, or via [email protected] before returning material.

The Entomology Team: Dr Chris Burwell, Dr Christine Lambkin, Susan Wright, Karin Koch. The Arachnology Team: Dr Robert Raven, Dr Michael Rix, Dr Owen Seeman, Wendy Hebron.

On the 13th March, based on advice from the Prime Minister on mass gatherings, QM cancelled the World Science Festival Brisbane 2020 (25-29 March) and the remaining World Science Festival Queensland events in Gladstone 20-21 March, Toowoomba 18-20 April, and Townsville 15-16 May. While very disappointing to cancel we know we will be back bigger and better next year.

On the 18th March, QM cancelled all public programs and events, including school holiday programs across all of the QM network until 30 April 2020. This was particularly disappointing for our Arachnologists as Spiders - the Exhibition had to be halted midstream.

On the 23rd March, the QM network closed to the public, volunteers, and all visitors. On the 27th QM staff transitioned to a largely ‘working from home’ environment, after all curators and collection managers had finished completely clearing their offices and laboratories in preparation for the building works that were actually moved up.

With most of us working from home, several social platforms have been developed that various staff have been very active with especially Robert Raven and Chris Burwell. Watch out on our social channels for some behind the scenes videos on Instagram stories and shared to our other platforms. See QMN Facebook#museumathome #CouchCurator

The hugely popular and educational Spiders exhibition closed early due coronavirus, but not before it attracted over 70,000 visitors to South Bank since its opening on 6 December 2019. With over 200 specimens and 12 live species on display, the exhibition was an enormous success, and included specially developed content featuring research by Queensland Museum arachnology, along with daily live displays by zookeepers Caitlin Henderson and Eamon Amsters.

It has been a fantastic late summer and autumn for Lepidoptera in Queensland following drought-breaking rains in February. Prolific plant growth, and perhaps suppression of natural enemies during the drought, have resulted in a bumper crop of butterflies and moths. Christine Lambkin (Curator Entomology) and Chris Burwell (Senior Curator Entomology) have been inundated with requests for comment from media outlets and a constant stream of public requests for identifications, particularly of caterpillars. Vast numbers of migrating Blue Tiger and Lemon Migrant butterflies and outbreaks of fruit-piercing moths and Sod Webworm have been keeping them busy.

mailto:[email protected]://www.facebook.com/qldmuseum


Chris Burwell has been attempting to stave off insanity while working from home by surveying the ants of his backyard in the western suburbs of Brisbane. The current count is 55 species, demonstrating the remarkable diversity housed in suburban gardens in south-eastern Queensland.

Mike Rix (Principal Curator and Research Fellow, Arachnology) visited Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve (near Maleny, SEQ) in March to meet with environmental staff from Sunshine Coast Council, and present a public seminar on trapdoor spiders as part of the ‘Cairncross Conversations’ lecture series. During the visit Mike conducted a site tour and talk, highlighting the spider fauna of the reserve, and discussed protocols for a long-term monitoring programme of the endemic Mary Cairncross Palisade Trapdoor Spider – itself featured as part of the QM content within the Spiders exhibition.

THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM’S TOP 10 NEW SPECIES OF THE DECADE: Among the top 10 new species are two spiders and a damselfly. Check out Desis bobmarleyi, a spider that lives in the intertidal zone! https://blog.qm.qld.gov.au/2020/01/17/queensland-museums-top-10-new-species-of-the-decade/

Entomological Society of Queensland

Front row (inset) from left: Treasurer: Bill Palmer; Vice President: Helen Nahrung; News Bulletin Editor: Kathy Ebert. Middle row from left: Councillor: Vivian Sandoval-Gomez; Business Manager – Australian Entomologist: Susan Wright; Councillor: Shannon Close; Secretary: Penny Mills. Back row from left: Past President: Gary Fitt; President: Mark Schutze; Councillor: Mike Muller. Image Jessa Thurman.

https://blog.qm.qld.gov.au/2020/01/17/queensland-museums-top-10-new-species-of-the-decade/


At the Tuesday 10th MARCH AGM, Gary Fitt delivered the Presidential Address titled “From Helicoverpa to Ebola – reflections on the ecological underpinning of pest management, resistance management and biosecurity” summarising his entomological exploits through a 35-year career with CSIRO where ecological understanding has been critical to achieving outcomes. He covered two broad sectors; one from 1983 to 2004 at the Australian Cotton Research Institute, Narrabri, NSW; the other from 2004 to the present when he was Brisbane based and focused broadly on biosecurity science and implementation.

Gary Fitt presents a Special Service Award to Geoff Monteith for 56 years of Society service (Cate Paull).

On behalf of the ESQ, at the AGM, Gary Fitt, acknowledged the service Geoff Monteith has given to the ESQ since he became a member 58 years ago: 19 years serving on Council and 37 years serving in non- Council positions. Although Geoff is stepping away from Council, he will remain on the journal’s publishing committee as an assistant editor.

The ESQ News Bulletin 48(1) March 2020 included an article by Mark Schutze “Fall Armyworm update” outlining the current incursion of Spodoptera frugiperda in northern Australia.

Due to the developing COVID-19 pandemic restricting our ability to gather for General Meetings, the April 14th General Meeting was cancelled. However, Geoff Monteith will present a full write-up in the April ESQ News Bulletin on "Cooloola monsters: 40 years of discoveries of these iconic Queensland insects."

Given the uncertainty of the coming months, the ESQ Council is holding Council Meetings in the digital realm and investigating means of delivering General Meetings via Zoom. Our first virtual General Meeting will be the May meeting, with Owen Seeman presenting via Zoom. The June 2020 Notes and Exhibits meeting will go ahead with multiple short Zoom presentations. We are hoping this will give our remote members a unique opportunity to join us in a meeting, and perhaps even some of our remote members could present at our Notes and Exhibits meeting! The link to the Zoom meeting and instructions for how to join will be in the ESQ News Bulletin, and emailed to members a week prior to the meeting.


From the start of 2020, pdf versions of all issues of the ESQ Journal, Australian Entomologist, will be supplied automatically to all ESQ members. Hardcopy subscriptions will be maintained as stand-alone subscriptions. An almost complete change of the Editorial Committee took place at the December 2019 ESQ Council Meeting when Greg Daniels was appointed as the new Editor while Christine Lambkin, Trevor Lambkin and David Lane became new Assistant Editors. At the AGM in March 2020, Geoff Monteith stood down as Business Manager after 12 years, but remains as an Assistant Editor. Susan Wright took over as Business Manager at the AGM.

QPWS Scientific Purposes Permit Holders Note:

There has been closure of all camping areas, visitor centres and other high use visitor areas in National Parks & State Forests across Queensland. Check the full and current list of closures at Park Alerts https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/covid-19.

Unfortunately, research activities that were able to be carried out in any of the areas which are now closed cannot continue until further notice. If you intend to continue a scientific purposes activity in areas that are not subject to closures, you must be able to demonstrate compliance with all current and future COVID-19 health and travel restrictions, including: limits on gatherings of people; social distancing restrictions; restricted access to vulnerable communities and geographic locations; travel restrictions; personal protective equipment.

The 2020 General Meetings will be held on the second TUESDAY each month from 1 to 2 pm. While normally in the Seminar Room at the Ecosciences Precinct, Woolloongabba, meetings will be via Zoom until advised otherwise.

Meetings for 2020:

MARCH 10 AGM and Presidential Address. Dr Gary Fitt ESQ President “From Helicoverpa to Ebola – reflections on the ecological underpinning of pest management, resistance management and biosecurity”

APRIL 14 Cancelled Geoff Monteith (QM) “Cooloola monsters: 40 years of discoveries of these iconic Queensland insects.” (in ESQ News Bulletin)

MAY 12 via Zoom - Owen Seeman (QM) “Mites on insects: the other other 99%?”JUNE 9 via Zoom - Notes and Exhibits & Student Award AUGUST 11 Matt Krosch (Forensics, QLD Police Service)SEPTEMBER 8 Melissa Starkie (QUT & QDAF)OCTOBER 13 Jane Royer (QDAF)NOVEMBER 10 TBA DECEMBER 8 Notes and Exhibits & Christmas Afternoon Tea (Note: 3 to 4 pm)

See all the latest news on our website: http://www.esq.org.au/

C. LAMBKIN

https://us-west-2.protection.sophos.com/?d=vision6.com.au&u=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudmlzaW9uNi5jb20uYXUvY2gvNzk0MDQvMXZkNHMvMjkyODk3OS9oUUYwN3ZiNXVpdUNPekdQeDJnaExuV0hpVXpXNng3QTdndG1LX3V2Lmh0bWw=&e=Y2hyaXN0aW5lLmxhbWJraW5AcW0ucWxkLmdvdi5hdQ==&h=a4f7ac8f78fc4446b6476fa6ecd0677e&t=WlU3Q0FWNDdSNlBuUk0rMWUvbittTjRVZTZoRm1KMCs3cjZyTk5GdHlBOD0=http://www.esq.org.au/


Queensland

Invasive Plant and Animals Science, Biosecurity Queensland, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

Michael Day travelled with Lynley Hayes, Whenua Manaaki Landcare Research, NZ to Tonga and Niue in February to discuss possible weed biological control projects. While there, field surveys of various weeds were conducted with local researchers in each country. In Tonga, it seems Lantana camara is under control mainly by the leaf-mining beetle Uroplata girardi which was released in the 1960s. Also, seen on L. camarawere Ophyiomia lantanae and Teleonemia scrupulosa which were also deliberately released, as well as Calycomyza lantanae, Crocidosema lantana, Lantanophaga pusillidactyla and Salbia haemorrhoidalis which were not deliberately introduced but spread naturally, probably from Fiji where they had established.

On Niue, L. camara also seemed under control by U. girardi, although T. scrupulosa was also present in low numbers. Crocidosema lantana, Ophiomyia lantanae and Salbia haemorrhoidalis which were not deliberately introduced were also present. They had spread naturally into the country, probably from Fiji where they had established.

Field work to investigate the efficacy of biological control agent Hypogeococcus festerianus (mealy bug) on Harrisia martinii (cactus) has commenced in Goondiwindi. Working in collaboration with University of Queensland, Goondiwindi Regional Council and the Harrisia Cactus Task Force, the first of five field surveys over 15 months has been completed. Field monitoring plots were set up to quantify plant and insect density, as well as environmental variables, to gain an understanding of why the biological control agent is considered not as successful in southern QLD as it is in central QLD.

In April, Jason Callander and David Comben visited a property at Freestone to survey a long-term Cylindropuntia imbricata integrated management trial. While there, Jason and David observed widespread insect damage to the rope pear trees, not indicative of Dactylopius tomentosus.

Chelinidea tabulata on Cylindropuntia imbricataat Freestone, Warwick, QLD.


Upon closer inspection, the insect responsible for the damage was identified as Chelinidea tabulate, a biological control agent released against prickly pear in the 1920’s. Both adult and immature stages of Chelinidea tabulata were abundant across the study site.

Chelinidea tabulata on Cylindropuntia imbricata at Freestone, Warwick, QLD.

L. SNOW


Publications

Allsopp, P. 2020. Australian Melolonthini (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Melolonthinae): a second species of Hypolepida Britton, 1978. Zootaxa 4742 (3): 595–600

Burwell, C.J., Hobson, R.G., Hines, H.B, Jefferies, M.G., Power, N.P and White, D. 2020. Dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata) of the Granite Belt region, South-eastern Queensland, Australia. Australian Entomologist 47 (1) 1–24, 27 March 2020.

The paper summarises dragonfly and damselfly records from this biogeographically significant region. Thirteen species reach the northernmost extent of their national ranges in the Granite Belt where they appear to be restricted in Queensland. Some are associated with riverine habitats but more are found in swamps and wet heaths in the south-eastern parts of Girraween National Park. The long-term persistence of these species in Queensland is at risk due to rising temperatures, more severe and prolonged droughts and more severe and frequent fires due to climate change.

Burwell, C.J. & Nakamura, A. 2020. Rainforest ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) along an elevational gradient at Eungella in the Clarke Range, central Queensland coast, Australia. Proc. Roy. Soc. Qld 125: 43-63.

Burwell, C.J., Theischinger, G., Leach, E.C. & Burwell-Rodriguez, A.I. 2020. Dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata) of the Eungella region, central coastal Queensland, Australia. Proc. Roy. Soc. Qld 125: 33-42.

Lambkin, C. L. (2020). Pontomyia revisited: marine flies. News Bulletin of the Entomological Society of Queensland 47(9): 187-188.

M.S. Moulds, L.W. Popple & D.L. Emery, (2020) A new species of Yoyetta Moulds from south-eastern Australia with notes on relationships within the Yoyetta tristrigata species group (Hemiptera, Cicadidae, Cicadettini), Australian Entomologist 47 (1) 25-28. Will, Kipling. 2020. Revision of Cerabilia Laporte, 1867 (Carabidae: Abacetini) of Australian and New Caledonia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum – Nature. 62: 15-107. https://doi.org/10.17082/j.2204-1478.62.2020.2019-01

In this paper, 26 new species of flightless ground beetles only found in Queensland wet forests and rainforests were described in the subgenus Feronista of Cerabilia by Kipling Will (UC Berkeley). Some of these predatory soil dwelling Carabids are tiny, less than 4mm long, and 1.5mm wide. Another 24 species are newly described in the new subgenus Biliacera from New Caledonia where Cerabilia has not been recorded before. Given the current reality and future threat of habitat modification and loss due to humans modifying habitats and the changing climate, it is critical to discover and describe baseline biodiversity. This large monograph took advantage of collecting efforts in both Australia and New Caledonia, especially of Geoff Monteith (QM), to make a substantial advance in the understanding of the diversity of Cerabilia.

C. LAMBKIN

https://us-west-2.protection.sophos.com/?d=doi.org&u=aHR0cHM6Ly9kb2kub3JnLzEwLjE3MDgyL2ouMjIwNC0xNDc4LjYyLjIwMjAuMjAxOS0wMQ==&e=c2FyYWgudmVyc2Nob29yZUBxbS5xbGQuZ292LmF1&h=df523d290c02439ab5ab4ad4c8e3dd1a&t=OGJ5THJ0MFl1ejVpNTE4OGU5TTNSc05kU3lMalhPUDR5eUdhWWZacklxbz0=https://us-west-2.protection.sophos.com/?d=doi.org&u=aHR0cHM6Ly9kb2kub3JnLzEwLjE3MDgyL2ouMjIwNC0xNDc4LjYyLjIwMjAuMjAxOS0wMQ==&e=c2FyYWgudmVyc2Nob29yZUBxbS5xbGQuZ292LmF1&h=df523d290c02439ab5ab4ad4c8e3dd1a&t=OGJ5THJ0MFl1ejVpNTE4OGU5TTNSc05kU3lMalhPUDR5eUdhWWZacklxbz0=


Northern Territory

CSIRO Darwin

CSIRO’s Magen Pettit continued to travel to Melville Island for the surveillance and treatment of tropical fire ant, Solenopsis geminata. This eradication program is in collaboration with Tiwi Land Council and working with Tiwi Land Rangers in and around Milikapiti. This is the final population of this species known on the island. The monthly visits in February and March occurred before COVID-19 travel restrictions, with a total of four nests detected and chemically treated. This is a dramatic decrease from a starting point of nearly 300 nests and puts the program extremely close to achieving eradication.

Magen has been kept busy in the ant biodiversity lab sorting and curating samples collected from Mt Isa Minesite, QLD. CSIRO is providing ant identifications for Glencore’s environmental impact monitoring project. CSIRO’s Ben Hoffmann and Magen appeared in short overview films on the Ashmore Reef Marine Park project released last month by CSIRO on social media (CSIRO and Australian Marine Parks Science Atlas webpages, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo). It features footage of the ecological survey of tropical fire ant conducted by Ben and Magen on Ashmore Reef in April last year. This was part of the environmental assessment of the terrestrial and marine biota of Ashmore reef commissioned by the Director of National Parks (DNP). The short films include other CSIRO staff and researchers from Parks Australia, UWA and Halfmoon Biosciences.

Ben and Magen have been involved in a publication review for developing the strategy team to evaluate ecological outcomes of the Pilbara Environmental Offsets Fund (PEOF) with CSIRO’s Suzanne Prober and University of Western Australia’s Guy Boggs. The project is managed by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, WA. PEOF aims to invest in strategic conservation projects in the Pilbara bioregion to offset vegetation and species habitat impacted by development. The Fund is resourced through environmental offsets and is expected to deliver over $90 million of projects over 40 years.

M. PETTIT

NAQS Entomology Darwin

Stacey Anderson and Glenn Bellis morphologically identified by genitalia dissection the first notifications for NT/WA of Fall Army Worm, Spodoptera frugiperda followed by DNA confirmation. During the COVID-19 restrictions, Glenn is mainly working from home producing a male genitalia and wing diagnostic atlas of Culicoides while Stacey continues to identify Culicoides for the National Arbovirus Monitoring Program (NAMP) in addition to processing survey specimens.

S. ANDERSON


Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

Graham Brown has been out and about collecting with James Carpenter from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. James is interested in vespids and has been collecting widely in the Top End with new species of eumenines, masarines and thynnids. James and his wife are unfortunately stuck in Darwin so we may finally see a eumenine key.

James Carpenter and Graham Brown (photo by James’ wife, Amy Davidson)

G. BROWN


Northern Territory

Department of Primary Industries and Resources

The fall armyworm (FAW) was first found in the NT in mid-March 2020 in a pheromone trap. We have been busy trapping throughout the territory and the number of records grow. The traps also catch other species so Frezzel Praise Justo-Tadle (Praise) has been identifying the FAW them by genitalia dissections while our molecular section has provided confirmation. Currently Praise is setting up a colony on artificial diet including making her own maize powder by drying and grinding maze leaves. Michael Neal has been helping Praise and Brian Thistleton with FAW studies, including planting a corn crop for field studies of the moth. He has also been conducting termite trials.

Brian Thistleton with FAW trap specimens. Praise busy feeding and monitoring FAW larvae.

Haidee Brown continues to manage the Northern Territory Economic Insect Collection and to answer enquiries from industry and the public, while also developing factsheets, including on FAW, and other publications.

Thilini Ekanayake is maintaining a colony of Bactrocera jarvisi in preparation for a fruit fly project which will start soon. In the meantime a trapping programme which she is planning for tomato potato psyllid planned for May in Darwin has been delayed due to the COVID-19 restrictions. In the meantime Darshana N Rathnayake (Darsh) is preparing for field trials to establish if honeybees can move CGMMV virus from infected plants and/or hives to uninfected plants.

Bert Lukitsch, from the National Browsing Ant Eradication Program, NT, reports that no browsing ants have been found in the Northern Territory since June 2019. From that date, 46,889 lures have been deployed on 292 properties with 11,508 of them containing over 97,000 ants.

B. THISTLETON


Western Australia

Many WA members took part in a national workshop led by Taxonomy Australia (details of the workshop are here: https://www.taxonomyaustralia.org.au/mission-introduction). Taxonomists/systematists and some ecologists came together (via Zoom) to discuss ways to accelerate naming, describing and identifying Australian species. At least 180 people have participated, mainly from Australia but some international scientists have participated too.

A game to help citizen scientists help CSIRO scientists identify Australian velvet ants: http://www.comparevelvetants.com/https://www.ala.org.au/blogs-news/play-the-mimicry-game-with-australias-velvet-ants/

Queensland fruit fly was detected in the Perth suburb of Dalkeith in March 2020. Staff from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) are currently conducting an eradication program to prevent potential spread of this exotic pest in Western Australia. As the threat of Queensland fruit fly establishing in WA is high, the response program has been deemed an essential service by the WA Government during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Sonya Broughton the Chief Plant Biosecurity Officer from DPIRD outlined in a video posted to Facebook how officers were practicing social distancing and stringent hygiene measures based on the state and federal government health advice throughout the response. Whilst it is a difficult time to roll out a response, it is crucial to protecting WA’s fruit and vegetable industries, worth around one billion dollars annually, and keep up the supply of high-quality produce for local and international consumers. https://www.facebook.com/DPIRDWA/videos/529781111044264/

In other news Fall Armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda has been found in northern WA following its initial detection in Queensland and later in the Northern Territory. The pest was found in a surveillance trap in Kununurra, operated by DPIRD as a part of the Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy. In February, the national technical committee, the Consultative Committee on Emergency Plant Pests, concluded that fall armyworm is not technically feasible to eradicate from Australia.

Despite recent events with COVID-19, the staff at DPIRD continue to be incredibly busy with these two new invasive invertebrate incursions, whilst still working on the Fire Ant and Browsing Ant incursions. A catalyst for the next news item:

https://www.taxonomyaustralia.org.au/mission-introductionhttp://www.comparevelvetants.com/https://www.ala.org.au/blogs-news/play-the-mimicry-game-with-australias-velvet-ants/https://www.facebook.com/DPIRDWA/videos/529781111044264/https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/sites/gateway/files/Ant%20Blitz2020%20web%20page1.jpg


Between 24 February and 3 April 2020 DPIRD provided Western Australians with the opportunity to help look for invasive ants in Western Australia.

The goal of the Ant Blitz was to collect as many ant samples as possible. Not only does this enhance our current ant surveillance activities, but also provides a chance for the public to learn about ants, including the beneficial species and which ones to lookout for. Samples could be reported through the MyPestGuideTM Reporter app or by calling the frontline Pest and Disease Information Service.

The Blitz was a success with a few hundred submissions and hundreds of enquiries from the general public.

K. ABRAMS & E. KINNAIRD

https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/apps/mypestguide-reporter


Myrmecia Anecdotes: From the Archives – Murray Fletcher

Producing an index for the Society's news bulletin has found numerous items of interest, some amusing, some poignant but most now forgotten or never seen by younger members. Here are a few:

Myrmecia 20(2), May 1984 Tom Browning's President's Address included the statement that Drosophila, "is not really an insect but a bag of polytene chromosomes invented by Morgan".

He also provided the neat little limerick: "A mosquito was heard to complain That a chemist had damaged her brain, The cause of her sorrow Was para-dichloro Diphenyl-trichloro-ethane"

which he credited to the newsletter of the SA Branch of the Women's Electoral Lobby.

Myrmecia 25(3), Aug 1989. NT Report "Releases of the Mimosa moth Neurostrota gunniella suffered a setback when the annual burn-off melted the walk-in field cage. All was not lost however, the moth is thriving in the field. Neurostrota became a national celebrity when it appeared in "The Picture" magazine in an article entitled 'Is this little bugger more dangerous than napalm?"

Myrmecia 26(1), February 1990. Peter Davis WA Regional Councillor "As part of the grain weevil insecticide resistance survey, Rob Emery gets a lot of samples from all over the state. The mis-spellings of entomology on the addressed samples have intrigued him so he's kept a list. These are the variations (genuine) logged to date: antamology, antimology, antomology, emptimology, emptomology, endomology, entamology, entemology, entimology, entomerlogy, entomoligy, entomoly, entymology, intomology. It's no wonder a lot of people don't know what us emptimerlogists do as they can never find out even if they bothered to look at a dictionary. In the Argentine Ant Section we had a letter address to the Emmetology Branch but, as an emmet is an ant, we're not quite sure if it was a genuine (and lucky) mistake and qualifies to be added to the above list, or some knowledgeable wag showing off."

Myrmecia 26(2), May 1990 "Sad news from Tamworth where Robin Gunning reports one of the Entomology laboratory's giant cockroaches was murdered one night by a large itinerant gecko! Apparently the crime scene was quite shocking the following morning with the hapless cockroach 'peeled like a prawn'."

Myrmecia 30(2), May 1994 "Following the symposium, Luc Janssens de Bristhoven of the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium and Jaap Postma of the University of Amsterdam accompanied Chris [Madden] to Adelaide where they received training in Australian beer consumption."

Myrmecia 31(4), Nov 1995. SA Regional News "John Hardy has been kept busy of late with numerous visits to Wardang Island and adjacent Point Pierce, the scene of the apparent escape of rabbit calicivirus onto the Australian mainland. To ensure the local bunnies don't become ill with the virus, they have been treated with a combination of 1080 and shotgun pellets, followed up with a little warren ripping."


An Index for the AES New Bulletin

The Index of the AES News Bulletin (titled Myrmecia from February 1989) has been completed for the years in which only print versions were produced. This covers the years 1965 to 2001. Overall, there are approximately 45,280 entries covering the people, species and events recorded in Myrmecia during those years. Herein, I use the name Myrmecia to cover both incarnations of the publication as the News Bulletin of the Australian Entomological Society as well as Myrmecia.

A couple of observations - Myrmecia has served, and continues to serve, a number of important purposes for the Australian Entomological Society. An article by Ray Kumar in 2001 on why the Society exists highlighted that many other national societies don't produce a newsletter of this kind. In Australia, for the entire life of the national society, members have been sent a newsletter four times a year (except only one in 1965 and three in 1982) which summarises entomological activity throughout the country. It is not limited to the activities of Society members but documents anybody involved in Australian entomology.

The second observation is that there are very many people working in entomology - some might say the engine room of entomology in Australia - who rarely get their names onto published papers other than a mention in the Acknowledgements. Without their services, however, projects would not progress. These are the people who tend the colonies of potential biocontrol agents and rear them for release. These are the people who run the PCRs and the electron microscopes or even just the camera equipment. These are the people who populate our databases. These are the people who accompany our entomologists when they go on collecting excursions and then curate the catch. These are the people who sort through thousands of mosquitoes collected in surveys of the vectors of human diseases across tropical Australia or sort through trap samples from ecological studies. These are the people who collect specimens as a personal interest and amass their own private collections which ultimately go to the major biodiversity collections in Australia. Myrmecia reports and therefore records all their activities in a way no journal can.

Myrmecia documents the lives and careers of the high flyers as well as the technical and other staff who support them. Since Myrmecia progresses through time, it is possible to watch young students complete their studies and move into the workforce, growing in stature and significance on the world stage. Take a young PhD student from the University of Adelaide who visited the ANIC in 1981 and was reported in Myrmecia as David Austin. The editor got the name wrong because Andy at the time was an unknown - just another postgrad student. Look at Andy now - internationally respected, an authority in his field, former AES President and risen to the rank of Professor in his university with multiple students and former students making their own mark on the world.

Andy wrote the obituary for Tom Browning published in Myrmecia in 1998. A beautifully crafted piece that outlined an extraordinary life which could easily have ended at the hands of a Japanese soldier on a beach in Singapore during the Second World War. After returning to Australia, Tom completed his studies and ended up as Professor at the University of Adelaide with students and former students making their own mark on the world, students like Andy Austin.

Deaths

One of the most poignant aspects of recording Myrmecia in this way has been reading the many obituaries. Between 1965 and 2001 there are 71 obituaries in the pages of Myrmecia and a further 40 since then. Some of these record the lives of eminent scientists like Doug Waterhouse, Ebbe Nielsen, J.W. Evans, H.G. Andrewartha and Ian Mackerras. Other obituaries record people who were not of great eminence but part of the fabric of Australian entomology - people like Zenta Liepa, Jack Armstrong, George Brooks and Zoo le Souëf. I note that, although a record of her death appeared in Myrmecia (Executive Minutes 39(1) Feb. 2003: 5), no formal obituary was published for Pat Marks by the AES.


However, Geoff Monteith has pointed out that an issue of Australian Entomologist, Vol 33(4) December 2006, was dedicated to Pat and includes articles by many contributors acknowledging her life and contribution to Entomology in Australia including her part in the establishment of the Australian Entomological Society.

While it is expected that many of the original members of the society have passed away, and continue to do so through aging, a number of entomologists died in unfortunate circumstances or too young. Harry Wharton died when he rolled his tractor on his property in Northern NSW. Joe Sedlacek died in a grass fire accident on his property near Brisbane in 1993. Dan Smith accidentally drowned. Ken Houston and Vince Salanitri both died by their own hand. John E.L. Machell, lecturer at Queensland Ag College, Gatton, for 15 years, died in a car accident on 12 August 1966, Ross Talent, PhD student at Macquarie Uni, died in a car accident en route to a Conservation Biology Conference at UQ in 1991 and we all recall the recent shock when we heard of John LaSalle's fatal car accident in 2018. Ebbe Nielsen died of a heart attack in California in 2001, aged 51. Ross Crozier died of a heart attack in his office at James Cook University in Townsville in 2009 aged 66. Neil Gough died at his microscope at QDPI in 1992 aged only 46. These last two must have been dreadful events for other staff of those institutions.

Significant Articles

It's not all doom and gloom, of course. Some items are highly amusing, some show a great talent for creative writing and others record significant events. A number of important contributions have appeared in Myrmecia over the years including biographical articles. Of note were a comprehensive biography of A.M. Lea prepared by Eric Matthews (SA Mus.) which was published in February 1985 and one on Reginald Bartlett, a school geography teacher who hit on a novel way of teaching his students about countries of the world by swapping butterflies, contributed by Geoff Monteith in May 1991.

In 1966, David McAlpine (Aust. Mus.) published the first indication that the Lord Howe Island Phasmid, Dryococelus australis, may have survived on Balls Pyramid after seeing a photograph of a freshly dead specimen taken in 1964 by David Rootes, a rock climber. Two excursions to Balls Pyramid more than 30 years later found living specimens which are now thriving in colonies in Sydney and Melbourne.

Chris Orton (UNSW) published a fascinating insight into the state of electronic communication in 1984 reporting that you could connect your computer to the phone lines via a modem and send electronic files to another computer which was also connected to the phone lines via a modem. I had no idea what he was talking about at the time (since the research establishment where I worked had no computers at all) but it gives a snapshot of where the internet was up to in 1984 and highlights how much it has changed since.

Doug Kettle, Tom Browning, Tom Passlow and Dinah Hales all had Presidential Addresses published in Myrmecia. They are all full of interesting science and personal stories. Dinah's, in particular, highlights some of the difficulties she faced as a women in a scientific world dominated by men and should be essential reading for all of us.

Tara Simmul (U. Tas.) published an article entitled "Postgrad Points - some things to think about" in November 1999 in which she gave some valuable hints on things to consider before undertaking a postgraduate degree and what a student expects from his/her supervisor. This is still highly relevant today.


Process

Myrmecia has changed formats many times over its lifetime but originally featured the society's bull ant logo on its front cover. The practice of adorning the cover with a different insect illustration for each year started in 1989 with an illustration of Idolothrips spectrum drawn by Geoff Thompson (Qld Mus). This was also the year that the newsletter was renamed Myrmecia. The editor (Geoff Monteith) explained that using a different insect on the cover countered the possible perception that a newsletter named Myrmecia would have been about ants. A number of talented artists provided the images from 1989 to 1995, including Ann Hastings, Sybil Monteith, Se Pyong Kim, Cait Symington, Jenni Thurmer and Karina Hansen McInnes. From 1996, the front cover illustrations have mainly been selected from entries in the Society's insect illustration competition although often it was not the winning entry chosen but one which had the best proportions to fit onto the cover.

The editor forgot to change the details on the front cover of the November 1977 issue (Volume 13 Part 4) which was still labelled Volume 13 Part 3 August 1977 which caused some confusion. The Editor in February 1997 (what a Wally!) forgot to include the main title on the front cover and only realised this when the issue was collected from the printer. I wonder if anybody else actually noticed!

The evolution of word processing can be documented using Myrmecia. Originally, all contributions would have arrived with the editor by letter, many of which would have been hand written. Some may have been given over the phone which might explain many of the spelling errors I have found. The editor would have sorted these into a preferred order and handed them in a folder to a typist to type in News Bulletin format. It would then have been handed back to the editor for proofreading before it was taken to the printer. Accents on letters were hand written onto the typed letter. Scientific names were underlined which meant they were typed, the page backspaced to the start of the name and then the whole word underlined letter by letter. Italics first appeared for scientific names in Volume 6 part 4 (November 1970) which indicates that sometime between August and November 1970, the University of Sydney (where the second editor Fred McDonald worked) acquired its first electric IBM Golfball Typewriter!

There were no photographs in the earlier issues. In fact, two group photos were taken of members who attended the 1971 AGM and each attendee received copies of the photos. The photos were not published in Myrmecia but lists of the conference attendees appearing in them were published in August 1971 so that those with copies of the photos could identify people in them. The first photograph appears in May 1975 - a full page photo of an AGM excursion into the Brindabella Ranges, ACT. Three photos of the 1976 conference excursion were printed, without captions, on one page of the August 1976 issue.

Names

I had to ensure that names of people and species are accurate in the index, no matter how they appear in Myrmecia. As far as has been possible, names of people are presented in the index in alphabetical order in the format Weinstein, P.W. (Phil). This required searching for initials, mainly through Google Scholar. Many people in the pages of Myrmecia do not appear as authors on scientific papers and are therefore difficult or impossible to trace and have simply gone into the index as they appear in Myrmecia. I am sure some people are in the index with two separate names, e.g. is J. Smith actually Jenny Smith, Jo Smith or somebody else? In the final version of the index, I have not included the keywords I used to link disparate names for the same people.


There have been several people who share the same name. I realised there were two Tony Wrights when they both appeared in the same issue, one in the WA Dept of Health (A.E. Wright) and the other at CSIRO Long Pocket in Brisbane (A.D. Wright). This is why I have tried to find initials where I can. Other people with the same name who required differentiating are David C. Lee / David J. Lee (also David Lea), Mark M. Stevens / Mark I. Stevens, Dave F. Cook / Dave R. Cook, Peter E. Green / Peter T. Green, David H. Kemp / David A. Kemp, Stuart E. Bunn / Stuart F. Bunn, Michael C. Day / Michael D. Day, Andrea L. Wilson / Andrea R. Wilson and David B. Smith / David F. Smith / David R. Smith / David S. Smith / David Smith (Keravat PNG). This last one dates from 1976 and might be the same person as one of the other David Smiths. It is probable that I have made errors in names of people and I would be pleased to make corrections if they are brought to my attention.

Many authors have only ever used one initial, e.g. Shelley Barker, Merv Bengston, Penny Greenslade, Sonya Broughton, Gerry Cassis, Greg Daniels, Paul Ferrar, Lionel Hill, Judy King, John Lasalle, Ian Oliver, Alice Wells and many others. It is also surprising how many entomologists use their second or third given name rather than their first. Listing the names in alphabetical order isn't much of a problem with names like Halliday R.B. (Bruce) because there aren't many other Hallidays in the list. However, if you looked up Mark Smith (Ag Vic) he actually appears some hundreds of places above where he would appear if he were Smith, M. because his name is Smith, A.M. (Mark) and is separated from Smith, M. by 39 other people named Smith. I have included an entry "Smith, Mark" directing users to Smith, A.M. (Mark) in this and similar cases.

Numerous people have changed names during their careers, the most common reason being women taking their husband's name when they married. In some cases, Dinah Hales being a good example, there are only a handful of mentions with her maiden name. Dinah joined the society in 1966 as Dinah F. White and had four other entries under that name before changing to Hales in 1973. She then had a long career as Dinah Hales. I have included all entries under Hales, D.F. (Dinah) with those using her maiden name noting "(as Dinah White)". However, there are a number of female entomologists who have had careers under their maiden names with a further career under their married names. Examples are Janet Comery/Horne, Marie Ablin/Vitelli, Jenny Turnour/Marohasy, Laraine Olley/Law and Lynne Johnson/Gribin. In these cases, their listings are kept separate but an entry to "see also...." is added to each. There are a number of others in addition to these. Again, if I have made any errors, please let me know.

There is only one male entomologist who took his wife's name because he decided it would be better to publish under a less common name than his own name of Smith. Unfortunately, when they separated, he reverted to Smith.

Spelling errors have created a number of problems in sorting out names - I was pleased to have picked up that John Ireson (Tasmania) appears as John Arisen in one issue and Alan McLaughlin (Dryocide Australia) as Alan McGlochlan. Helmut Saucke only has four appearances (in PNG News) and they are as Arnut Saucke, Arnut Sauki and Helmet Sauke before it finally appeared correctly. Anna Leon changed her name to Anna Greener but she appeared in Myrmecia as Anna Green, Anna Greene and Anna Grener before the correct spelling appeared. In August 1979, Ivor Lansbury appears as Ian, Neil Gough as Noel, Don Sands as Ron and I appear as Mr I.M. Fletcher. And then there was the spelling of Professor Michael White as Professor Michael Shite (Feb 1980) and the unfortunate dyslexic rearrangement of the vowels for Bruno Pinese in February 2000.

austentsoc.org.au Myrmecia Volume 56, Part 2, May 2020

It is not only people who have presented nomenclatural difficulties. Names of species also change. If you wanted to look up the Queensland fruit fly, for example, it appears in Myrmecia as Queensland fruit fly, Qfly, Dacus tryoni and Bactrocera tryoni. Also, references simply to "fruit flies" might also mean B. tryoni. Users of the index don't want to look up the species under all possible variants. I have therefore used the scientific name as recorded in the Australian Faunal Directory (AFD) (https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/home) wherever possible and included entries under the others directing users to where that species can be found in the index. Not all species mentioned in Myrmecia have been included in the index. Statements that someone was working on a particular species were not indexed unless some additional information was provided about that species. Presumably, any useful result from that work will have appeared in the published literature anyway although it is noted that very few Honours or Graduate Diploma projects generate scientific papers.

Conclusion

So, what now for the index? It will be made available on the AES website, probably as individual PDF files each covering a single letter. This makes it easier to download specific parts of the index without having it as one large file. It still may not be of much use to you as members unless you can access the issues themselves. At least you can use the index to find out where particular items occur or names appear and put a request into your library for specific pages from particular issues. Ultimately, it will be useful to have the entire series scanned and loaded onto the website in the same way that all the early issues of the Journal were scanned and made freely available on the Wiley website. That is my goal.

PLEASE N

From 2002 to 2018, Myrmecia was published ielectronic only. While I have all the print versithe PDF for each of these issues so they can bebelow includes the ones which still need to be

2002, issues 1–4 2004, issue 4 2005, issues 1, 2 2006, issue 2 2007, issues 2–4 2008, issues 1–4 2009, issue 1 2011, issue 3

If you have any of these, please ema

OTE

n print and PDF format and since then as ons I am attempting to locate copies of loaded onto the AES website. The list

located:

32

il a copy to [email protected]

https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/home


Acknowledgements

Firstly, I acknowledge the contributions made to Myrmecia by its several editors who are all listed on the Society's website. I also acknowledge the contributions made by the many members who have served as Office Bearers of the Society including Regional Councillors (now Regional Representatives), Overseas Correspondents and Representatives from Affiliated Societies without whom there would have been little information available for the editors to have published. I also thank James Ridsdill Smith.who passed his collection of Myrmecia, including many of the earliest issues, on to me when he retired.

For the index, a number of fellow entomologists have answered my queries and clarified details. These have included Geoff Allen, Wes Allen, Andy Austin, Glenn Bellis, Michael Braby, Haidee Brown, Chris Burwell, Vanessa Cavagnaro, Peter Cranston, Steve Doggett, Gary Fitt, Bernie Franzmann, Geoff Gurr, Grant Herron, Rhondda Jones, Nina Kurucz, Mali Malipatil, Peter McQuillan, David Merritt, Helen Nahrung, Dan Papacek, David Rentz, James Ridsdill-Smith, Richard Rowe, Linda Semeraro, Graeme Smith, Mark Stevens, Brian Thistleton, Ken Walker, Jeff Watson, Alice Wells, Kate Worrad (née Whitfeld), Jane Wright and Phil Weinstein. My apologies to anybody else I have inadvertently not included here.

MURRAY FLETCHER AES Director (Communication) [email protected]

myrmecia: volume 55, part 1 - austentsoc.org.au volume 56 p… · myrmecia volume 56, part 2, may...

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