The 64th Entomological Society of New Zealand Conference

You are warmly invited to attend the 64th annual conference of the New Zealand Entomological Society, to be held at Orakei Bay conference and function centre, Auckland.

When: The conference will run from Tuesday 7th April 2015 until the afternoon of Friday 10th April 2015.

A field trip is planned for Friday 10 April to Rangitoto Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

Where: All talks, the poster session (with wine and cheese) and the annual dinner will be held at the Orakei Bay conference and function centre, Auckland. Orakei Bay is a short train ride from the Auckland CDB.

Organising committee: Grace Hall (Landcare Research), Robert Hoare (Landcare Research), Rudi Schnitzler (Ministry for Primary Industries, Landcare Research) & Olwyn Green (Ministry for Primary Industries).

Key Dates:

12 March 2015: Early bird registration closes
15 March 2015: Abstract submission closes
7 April 2015: Conference begins

Conference Resources:

Conference program (PDF format, 310 KB)
Field trip information (PDF format, 37 KB)
Conference poster (JPG format, 1.5 MB)
Map of the conference location (PDF format, 1.6 MB)
Train timetable for Orakei station (PDF format, 1.4 MB)
Agenda for curator’s meeting (PDF format, 108 KB)

Conference photo

Announcements

1 February 2015: Registration and abstract submission are now open!
27 March 2015: The conference program is now available for download

Guest speakers

The 64th Entomological Society of New Zealand Conference in 2015 has an exciting and diverse range of speakers confirmed, including:

Anne Wignall

Institute of Natural and Mathematical Science, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
Anne is a Lecturer in the Institute of Natural and Mathematical Science at Massey University. Anne completed her PhD and postdoc at Macquarie University in Australia. Her PhD examined the biology and predatory behavior of assassin bugs. For her postdoc, she switched to sexual selection, studying courtship behaviour in web-building spiders. She subsequently lectured at New York University, Sydney before beginning her lectureship at Massey University in 2014. Anne’s current research focuses on how the evolutionary, developmental and social history of an individual influences adult behaviour. She is interested in physiology, morphology, developmental and reproductive biology, and predator-prey interactions. Most of her work uses invertebrates as model systems, particularly spiders and insects.

Catherine Duthie

Ministry for Primary Industries, Wellington, New Zealand
Catherine is a senior adviser for biosecurity risk analysis at the Ministry for Primary Industries. The focus of her work is the assessment of invasive pests of concern to New Zealand. Catherine completed both her undergraduate degree and her PhD in Ecology and Biodiversity on Factors Promoting Coexistence between Endemic Ants and Invasive Wasps at the Victoria University of Wellington. Catherine’s current focus is the risk of invasion and establishment in New Zealand of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys).

Corinne Watts

Biodiversity and Conservation, Landcare Research, Hamilton, New Zealand
Corinne is an Invertebrate Ecologist at Landcare Research. She did her undergraduate degree at Victoria University of Wellington before completing her PhD in insect restoration after wetland mining from the University of Canterbury in 2006. Corinne’s current research interests are restoration of invertebrate communities, particularly within wetlands and mammal-free sanctuaries, and threatened insect taxa research and management.

Greg Holwell

School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Greg is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland. Greg completed his undergraduate degree and PhD at the Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. His research focuses on the behavioural ecology and morphology of terrestrial invertebrates. He is particularly interested in understanding how sexual selection drives the evolution and diversification of reproductive morphology and exaggerated structures in insects and arachnids.

Richard Leschen

Landcare Research, New Zealand Arthropod Collection, Auckland, New Zealand
Rich is a systematist at New Zealand Arthropod Collection and is the curator of Coleoptera.  He holds a Masters from University of Arkansas (Fayetteville), a PhD from the University of Kansas (Lawrence) and has been part of Landcare Research since 1997.  Rich conducts research on beetle systematics with an emphasis on placing the New Zealand fauna in global taxonomic context.  He has served as a co-editor of the volumes of the Handbook of Zoology for over a decade, has been involved in teaching workshops in Coleoptera in China, Europe and Latin America, and collaborates with paleontologists and molecular biologists to understand more fully the evolution of beetles, from their deepest past to reconstructing their recent histories associated with climate change.

Contact

For any enquiries or further information please email: conference AT ento DOT org DOT nz

Sponsors

The Society would like to thank the sponsors who have generously supported the 2015 conference.

Ministry for Primary Industries

AgResearch

Verve Digital

Landcare Research

CRC Press