Dear colleagues,

We hope that you remember that some 8 months ago we announced that
we are
going to organize a small meeting on Ciidae at the Museum of Zoology
in
Dresden. We have now fixed a preliminary date:

October 4-8, 2008 (Saturday to Wednesday; please consider that
October 3
will be a holiday in Germany)

We hope that this date will be convenient to all of you!


For the programme of the meeting we have scheduled:

(1) talks about any possible aspects of research on Ciidae (taxonomy,
morphology, phylogeny, biodiversity & conservation, ecology,
biogeography &
faunistics, development, cytogenetics, physiology, behaviour,
economic
aspects, and whatsoever) and about other issues of potential
interest to
entomologists working on Ciidae. There can also be talks that review
the
knowledge on some systematic group of Ciidae (e.g. a genus) or on
some of
the aforementioned research aspects.

(2) discussions about how research on Ciidae is best promoted and
coordinated in the various disciplines

(3) discussions how to assemble a common information pool including,
for
instance, files on the literature on Ciidae, on the addresses of ciid
researchers, on ongoing studies, plans, and interests, as well as on
the
availability of specimens.

(4) a one-day excursion in the surroundings of Dresden.

(5) a one- or two-day workshop on species identification of tree
fungus
within the host range of Ciidae, including fungus specimens at any
stage of
decay (conducted by Dr Christoph Hahn, a mycologist).

We would ask you to submit suggestions for one or two talks that you
might
contribute. Talks can cover any of the aspects mentioned above.
Beginners in
the field and young ciidologists are especially encouraged to give
presentations (for instance, about the results of their master´s
thesis).
When suggesting a talk, please indicate a title and provide a short
description about the intended content (2 or 3 sentences). Keep in
mind that
this specification is preliminary, you can announce changes any
time. Based
on your suggestions we would like to compose a preliminary programme
for the
meeting within some 8 months from now.

In order to maintain basic supply of tea, coffee, juice, cookies
etc. during
the meeting we would ask participants for a contribution of 20 Euro.

You are highly welcome to forward this message to potentially
interested
colleagues not included in our mailing list.

Sincerely,
and looking forward to your reply,

Klaus-Dieter Klass, Gerda Buder, and Cristiano Lopes-Andrade