First Announcement

Invitation

Dear Colleague

On behalf of the International Committee of the International Symposium on Scale Insect Studies - ISSIS, we cordially invite you to participate in the XII ISSIS meeting, to be held in Chania - Crete, on April 06-09th, 2010.

The meeting is locally organized by the Institute of Veterinary Research of Athens (NAGREF) in collaboration with Benaki Phytopathological Institute, and will take place at Mediterranean Agronomic Institute in Chania. It will cover all aspects of scale insect studies, including systematics and morphology, genetics and evolution, zoogeography and faunistics, biology and population dynamics, natural enemies, monitoring and pest management. It is also intended to be an opportunity to bring together people dealing with coccids and to discuss the most recent research achievements in scale insect studies.

During the meeting, a field trip is planned to see some of the most interest sights of the prefecture of Chania. The exact sites have yet to be finalised but could include some of the following: Chora Sfakion, Annopolis, one of the most traditional and authentic areas on Crete and the gorge of Aradaina, which starts at the southern slopes of the White Mountains or the Byzantine monastery of Ag. Roumeli the ancient city Tara, already a timber exporter 4000 years ago. and the Samaria gorge, one of Europe's longest gorge, hosting a plethora of rare flora (eronda" or Cretan dittany (Origanum dictamnus)) and fauna species, such as Kri-Kri (Carpa aegagrus- cretica), or the rare bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) and the vulture (Gyps fulvus)  

The organization is considering the possibility of organizing a post-meeting excursion (Apri10-11th) if enough people will be interested. The trip will include visits to some places of great historical and ecological value, as Knossos, the Minoan largest Palace built around 2000 B.C of ashlar blocks, with many floors and decorated with really beautiful frescoes. Or The Palace of Phaistos witch is located at the end of the Mesara plain in South Central Crete and  it is considered to be one of the finest of all Minoan palaces, or the forest of Vai, placed on the eastern side of Crete. It is a unique forest of more than 5,000 palm trees Phoenix Theophrastii and, in fact, constitutes the only palm tree forest in Europe with

If you intend to participate in the XII ISSIS, please fill the registration form and send it to the local organizers, preferably by e-mail, before October 20th , 2009.

Updated information will be available on this web site.  

Looking forward to meeting you in Chania

Sincerely

The local organizers: