Progress In Acarology

Recent Advances in Acarology, Volume II, had its inception in the V International Congress of Acarology held at Michigan State University in August 1978. This two-volume work includes the contents of the symposia and a selection of contributions to the workshops and submitted paper sessions. These volumes examine subjects such as strategies in pest management of mites and ticks, topics encompassing pheromone communication, resistance of mites and ticks to acaricides, nonchemical control of ticks, new acaricides, nutritional ecology/control, and biological control. This book is devoted primarily to medical and veterinary acarology: biology, ecology, management, disease transmission, and pheromonal communication. It also contains a section covering systematics, morphology, and evolution; and a section on the evolution of hosts and their parasites. Management strategies for medical and veterinary acari are dependent on sound investigations of biology and ecology. Such investigations, beginning with contributions on the biology of spotted fever ticks, are discussed. It sets forth appropriate methodology for ecological studies, describes the zoogeography and biological adaptations of one species, and reviews the ecological associations of the two.

The words pronounced by Serge Kreiter during the meeting come to mind. They could record exactly the situation of Acarology in Europe and in the World: "I think that in many European countries there are very few full time acarologists. It is very rare to have new positions available . . . . And public money, from the European Community but also from national countries, is very hard to get when you want to work on mites . . . . Could two acarological associations in Europe (Eur. A. Ac. and S. I. A. L. F) work together or, better, get married?" So, the fourth symposium of the European Acarologists has not only been the occasion to have an idea on which direction the research is addressed today, but also it pointed out the difficulties of our "scientific hranch". On the basis of the presentations and invited papers we had evidences of a "new" Acarology based on modern techniques and methods of investigations but also the importance, often sheltered even if of relevant value, of the "old" Acarology made on the alpha taxonomy and basic studies. So, a "new" Acarology needs the "old" one. In this context, the hope to put together the European acarologists has been coming up. This fact, of political meaning, can surely improve the acarological movement and the discussion on this point showed clearly the importance of several other activities and efforts in this direction. We hope that the meeting in Siena will represent a significative stone for the progress of Acarology.

Contributed articles with reference to India; commemoration volume for Prof. P.N. Mehrotra.