Anet Newsletter 8
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30 APRIL 2006 No. 8 ANeT Newsletter International Network for the Study of Asian Ants / DIWPA Network for Social Insect Collections / DIVERSITAS in West Pacific and Asia Proceedings of Committee Meeting of 5th ANeT Workshop Minutes prepared by: Prof. Datin Dr. Maryati Mohamed Institute for Tropical Biology & Conservation Universiti Malaysia Sabah, MALAYSIA Place and Date of the Committee Meeting Committee meeting of 5th ANeT Workshop was held on 30th November 2005 at the National Museum, Kuala Lumpur. The meeting started at 12.30 with a discussion on the draft of Action Plan tabled by Dr. John Fellowes and meeting then chaired by Prof. Maryati Mohamed at 1.00 pm. Meeting adjourned at 3.00 p.m. Members Attending Prof. Maryati Mohamed, the President of ANeT (Malaysia) Prof. Seiki Yamane (Japan) Prof. Kazuo Ogata (Japan) Dr. Rudy Kohout (Australia) Dr. John R. Fellowes (Hong Kong/UK) Mr. Suputa (Indonesia) Dr. Yoshiaki Hashimoto (Japan) Dr. Decha Wiwatwitaya (Thailand) Dr. Bui Tuan Viet (Vietnam) Dr. Himender Bharti (India) Dr. Sriyani Dias (Sri Lanka) Mr. Bakhtiar Effendi Yahya, the Secretariat of ANeT (Japan) Ms. Petherine Jimbau, the Secretariat of ANeT (Malaysia) Agenda Agreed 1. Discussion on Proposal on Action Plan as tabled by Dr. John Fellowes 2. Proceedings/Journal 3. Next meeting - 6th ANeT Seminar and Meeting (date and venue) 4. New members and structure of committee membership 5. Any other business ANeT Newsletter No. 8. 30 April 2006 Agenda Item 1: Discussion on Proposal on Action Plan as tabled by Dr. John Fellowes Draft of Proposal was distributed. During the discussion no amendments were proposed to the draft Action Plan objectives. The main issue discussed was setting up of a common coding system for ants of Asian region. Members agreed: 1. Due to the slow process of taxonomic review and the need for internationally-standardised nomenclature, we need a coding system to cover both described and undescribed species from Asia, as held in the ANeT collections. 2. Geographical range of collection to use the common coding system for ANeT ant is the Oriental region plus Sulawesi and Iran. 3. Code agreed is exemplified as: Tetramorium (subgenus) ANET 001 (the ANET spelling is all capital letters and the number of 0s depend on size of genus. Subgenus is optional. Genus and subgenus in italics.) 4. All ants will be coded. This means that some may have even had confirmed species name. Example: Tetramorium ANET 001 is Tetramorium bicarinatum. 5. For the next two years (November 2005 to November 2007) Dr. Rudy Kohout is given the honour to start the system going using Polyrhachis and Echinopla. The system will be reviewed in the 6th ANeT Seminar and Meeting. If it is successful and practical, and acceptable to many members, then allocation of other members who are keen to be manager of particular genera will follow. This will then become the unified system of species coding for ants for ANeT. The list is to be databased on Excel. 6. The draft objectives of the Action Plan will be given out to members for comment, which should be submitted to Dr. John Fellowes by middle of December 2005. Members will also be invited to participate in the Plan. 7. John will then coordinate the Plan compilation, ready for discussion of recommended actions at ANeT 2007. Agenda Item 2: Proceedings/Journal 1. The President proposed that a journal be initiated because ANeT is now 7 years old and has a good number of members doing high quality research on ants. The journal would give ANeT an identity and provide opportunity for younger members to start writing good scientific papers on ants. However, it is not a must that all members must submit to the journal. 2. The names of the journal proposed were ASIAN MYRMECOLOGY and ASIAN ANTS, the first being favoured by the committee. The President will seek an ISSN number and registration that will also determine the name. 3. A committee for the journal was proposed and they are: i. Advisor : Prof. Maryati Mohamed ii. Editors : Dr. Martin Pfeiffer and Dr. John Fellowes iii. Editorial board (to be confirmed after further discussion) 4. Rudy volunteered to design the cover and the size agreed is B5. Format is as in ANeT first Proceedings. 5. A managing editor (Ms. Petherine Jimbau) will be stationed at Universiti Malaysia Sabah. ANeT Newsletter No. 8. 30 APRIL 2006 Submitted manuscripts will be sent to the Editors to handle the review process. Final accepted manuscripts will be sent to either Ms. Petherine / Mr. Bakhtiar or both for journal publication. 6. Where appropriate, members are encouraged to submit their presentations made during the 5th ANeT Seminar and Meeting to the journal by August 2006. A six-month editing period is expected, followed by 2 months of finalization and printing. The first journal is expected to be out by mid-2007. 7. Besides presentations made at the 5th Seminar and Meeting, members may send other papers about ants from their research [from time to time]. The scope will include Taxonomy and Biogeography, Ecology and Conservation and Applied Myrmecology. 8. The President will find funding to cover the cost of managing and printing the journal and it will be published every two years. [9. Post-meeting note: Martin Pfeiffer agreed to be co-editor of the journal; John and Martin were to draft guidelines for submission, and a proposed editorial board, for approval by the ANeT Committee in May 2006.] Agenda Item 3: Next Meeting - 6th ANeT Seminar and Meeting (Date and Venue) After some discussions, members agreed that the 6th ANeT Seminar and Meeting will be in India at the end of October 2007. Agenda Item 4: New Members and Structure of Committee Membership 1. By December 2004, there were 54 members. By 30th November 2005 the total number of members was 61. The updated list of names of members will be provided by the secretariat. The breakdown of representation is as below: 2. The President reported that there is about RM 683.35 from previous fee collection, and Bakhtiar reported about RMl,000 fee had been collected in this meeting. 3. Members decided to set up a more structured Committee to reflect the size of ANeT and ensure effective division of responsibilities. A clear and simple constitution will be proposed and discussed for members' approval at ANeT 2007. In the meantime the committee is as follows, with the names of members volunteering to assist in the respective portfolios: President: Prof. Datin Dr. Maryati Mohamed Vice President / Coordinating Secretariat for 6th ANeT Seminar & Meeting 2007: Dr. Himender Bharti ANeT Newsletter No. 8. 30 APRIL 2006 Secretaries: Mr. Bakhtiar Effendi Yahya (Kagoshima University, Japan) & Ms. Petherine Jimbau (UMS, Malaysia) Treasurer: Ms. Petherine Jimbau Committee Members: Action Plan: Dr. John Fellowes Newsletter: Prof. Seiki Yamane, Dr. Decha Wiwatwitaya & Dr. Katsuyuki Eguchi Journal: Dr. John Fellowes & Dr. Martin Pfeiffer Other members: Dr. Bui Tuan Viet (Vietnam); Dr. Sriyani Dias (Sri Lanka); Dr. Yoshiaki Hashimoto (Japan); Dr. Rudy Kohout (Australia); Prof. Kazuo Ogata (Japan); Mr. Suputa (Indonesia). 4. There was a suggestion that other ANeT members may be nominated for Committee Membership, when there is a proposal by any member of ANeT and endorsed by Committee Members, during the next meeting. This suggestion will be incorporated in the draft constitution. Agenda Item 5: Any Other Business These are some comments and suggestions by members: J. R. Fellowes: I'm not sure about previous members such as Prof. Kim, Dr. Erwin etc. who couldn't attend this workshop, or Dr. Rosli who could not attend the committee meeting. Also Eguchi san, who has been a central player in ANeT throughout. I would suggest all these are included in the provisional committee membership, but that by 2007 we need greater clarity on committee membership, its responsibilities and its duration, so that all members can understand the system. Sk. Yamane: Also remind secretariat to inform members that articles for the newsletter must be submitted by the second week of December 2005, so that it can be published by the end of December 2005. [Post-meeting note: deadline postponed until the end of March?] H. Bharti: Suggest that other members of ANeT should also start work on coding species of their specific genus. J. R. Fellowes: Suggest that more communication between committee members be made through emails. ANeT Newsletter No. 8. 30 APRIL 2006 [Research Plan] A First Step toward a Classification of Crematogaster in Asia Shingo HOSOISHI Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 812-8581 JAPAN E-mail: [email protected] Background Many myrmecologists know that the genus Crematogaster is one of the most common ants occurring worldwide and most speciose in the tropics. The ants are easy to recognize but difficult to identify to species. The genus is conventionally divided into 16 subgenera, with approximately 400 described species in the world (Bolton, 1993). In Asia, about 200 species and subspecies have been named, in 11 subgenera, but the taxonomy is far from complete. If we could have more reliable groupings, we would be able to add further information to unnamed species (or those that are difficult to identify), like "subgenus A" or "sp. cf. x group". Here I would like to give a brief outline of Crematogaster in Asia as a first step to a comprehensive revision. Subgenus-level classification was established in the slightly different systems of Wheeler (1922) and Emery (1922). The former included 13 subgenera and the latter 11 subgenera: Rhachiocrema and Neocrema were independent subgenera in Wheeler's but were included in Orthocrema in Emery's; Eucrema was independent in Wheeler's but was included in Crematogaster in Emery's, while conversely Acrocoelia was separated from Crematogaster in Emery's.