Queensland Museum

The Queensland Museum campus in Brisbane (http://www.southbank.qm.qld.gov.au/) has a large and well-curated myriapod collection. Most of the material comes from the Australian State of Queensland, but this one State is as large as France, Germany, Spain and Sweden combined. Myriapods have been deposited from tropical, subtropical, dry and coastal habitats, but the collection is particularly rich in specimens from the Queensland Wet Tropics. The material is sorted to higher taxa and includes a large number of undescribed species.

Collection manager Dr Owen Seeman has generously offered to assist interested myriapodologists in several ways:

1. Rostered visits

Myriapodologists will be able to sign up to work in the collection, i.e. they are welcome to study specimens using a microscope and lab bench at the Museum. Visits will be rostered to ensure that the time available is distributed fairly among visitors. The collection will be accessible in Museum working hours (0930 - 1700) during the conference and in the weeks before and after.

2. Specimen loans

The Museum will lend specimens that are selected and set aside by visiting specialists. These will be shipped to the specialist's home institution. Dr Seeman asks that the material selected be limited to small groups (e.g., a particular genus or set of species rather than a whole family) on which the specialist plans to work in the near future. The maximum loan term is two years. "If two specialists want the same specimens then I would ask them to negotiate. Two short term loans can be arranged, or transfers between specialists." Note that new holotypes arising from work on loaned material are to be deposited in the Queensland Museum.

3. New collections

If visiting myriapodologists have collected fresh specimens (see Collecting), these can be deposited at the Museum, then borrowed as unregistered specimens. This is easier than obtaining permission to export the specimens directly.

Collecting

Collecting in Australia is regulated by permits. In Queensland, collecting of native flora and fauna is controlled by the Department of Environment and Resource Management (http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/ecoaccess/plants_and_animals/index.html). The DERM system is not simple and getting a permit may take some time. An alternative is to join the Entomological Society of Queensland (http://www.esq.org.au/). The Society has arranged a bulk collecting permit with DERM and has streamlined the process of getting a permit. For full details see http://www.esq.org.au/permit.html. Note that this process still takes time. If you plan to collect specimens while visiting Queensland, arrange to join the ESQ or/and get your permit well in advance.

It is important to understand that biological specimens of any kind (dead or alive) cannot be taken out of Australia without an export permit from the Australian Government. Getting a permit takes time and there is a fee; for details see http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/trade-use/permits/index.html. A much easier way to export freshly collected specimens is to first deposit them in an Australian museum, then borrow the material from that museum. As noted above, the Queensland Museum will accept freshly collected specimens for deposit and lend them out as unregistered material. The Museum will require documentation of what the specimens are, where and when they were collected, who collected them and by what method, and to what institution (usually not to a private individual) the specimens should be lent.

Pre-conference tour

Details are not yet available, but the tour will most probably be from Wednesday to Friday, 13-15 July 2011, and will include some of the spectacular countryside and reserves of far southeast Queensland. Check this website later in 2010 for more information. The booking deadline will be 27 May 2011, but interested registrants are asked to fill in the Pre-conference Tour item on the 15ICM registration form.

Myriapods of Brisbane

This conference extra is in the planning stages. The aim is to produce a website for hosting by the Brisbane City Council. The website will have pictures and information on the most common centipedes and millipedes of the Brisbane area, and will complement the excellent 1995 book 'Wildlife of Greater Brisbane', produced by the Queensland Museum with support from the Brisbane City Council. The website will be launched during the conference.

Myriapod identification session

This conference extra is also in the planning stages. After the talks on one of the conference days, members of the public could bring specimens for identification by myriapodologists. Informal 'meet the experts' sessions of this kind have been very successful in Australia, and a myriapod session would give the conference good publicity, and myriapods a higher profile in the local community.