sci.bio.entomology.homoptera (fwd)

[Murray Fletcher]

I realise that many Taxacom subscribers also subscribe to Entomo-L and
will therefore have seen this posting. The original poster, Maarten van
Helden, is not a Taxacom subscriber and I am forwarding this on his behalf
to ensure the widest possible relevant exposure.

Murray Fletcher
NSW Agriculture

---------- Forwarded message ----------


                     REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)
            unmoderated group sci.bio.entomology.homoptera

This is a formal Request for Discussion for the creation of the
unmoderated Usenet newsgroup sci.bio.entomology.homoptera. This is not
a Call for Votes (CFV). Do *NOT* vote now.


Newsgroups line:
sci.bio.entomology.homoptera    Research on homopteran (sap-sucking) insects.

RATIONALE: sci.bio.entomology.homoptera

Discussion, news, and queries concerning the study of homoptera

Homopteran insects are a very distinct insect order, characterized by
their specialised feeding behaviour as sap suckers. Homoptera are
pests of enormous economic importance in temperate and tropical
regions of the world, damaging many different crops in both outdoor
and greenhouse crops. Apart from the direct feeding damage, virus
transmission and fungal growth on honeydew also cause mayor yield
losses.

The sci.bio.entomology.homoptera newsgroup is intended for
communication on homopteran insects only. Other entomological
questions should be posted to the sci.bio.entomology.misc newsgroup
(general entomology), or to the appropriate specialised newsgroups
(e.g. sci.bio.entomology.lepidoptera for lepidoptera).  Communication
will be welcomed from all those interested in homoptera, including
serious amateurs as well as professionals and students. Closely
related taxonomic 'sister' groups, such as Heteroptera, will be
welcome in this newsgroup until a more appropriate forum is
available. Though intended primarily for scientific communication,
some queries from the general public are to be expected; these should
be answered politely.

The idea behind this newsgroup is the need to improve fast and
informal communication between researchers working on
homoptera. Newsletters (like the 'aphid resistance newsletter' which
was published as a paper copy once a year) appeared inadequate for
this goal. In the near future WWW-Newsletters or Archive sites based
on this newsgroup might be develope.'Pointers to these sites will be
posted in the newsgroup when appropriate.

sci.bio.entomology.homoptera is *NOT* intended as a forum for buying
and selling insect specimens nor for advertising commercial products
and services.  However, it is permissible to use the newsgroup to post
brief comments with pointers to addresses where readers can obtain
information about such products. All participants are expected to
respect the environment and the law. Efforts to encourage trespassing
or to subvert conservation laws are *NOT* welcome on this newsgroup.

CHARTER: sci.bio.entomology.homoptera

The aim of this newsgroup will be the exchange of scientific
information and discussion on homopteran insects (aphids, whiteflies,
leafhoppers, planthoppers etc.). Anyone seriously interested will be
welcome to join the scientific discussion.

Possible subjects (not exhaustive and in random order) are:

- Insect biology
        - Ecology
        - Physiology
        - Behaviour
        - Virus transmission
        - Symbionts

- Insect-plant interactions
        - Chemical ecology
        - Feeding behaviour
        - Multitrophic interactions

- Economic entomology
        - Agricultural pests
        - Resistance mechanisms/breeding
        - Natural enemies/biological control
        - Insecticide resistance

- Taxonomy

- Research techniques
        - Rearing techniques and clone collections
        - Electrical penetration graphs
        - Phloem collection/analysis
        - Development of new research tools

- Announcements of meetings


The discussion will be held preferably in English when posted to the
world community (as set up in the news "distribution" field). FAQ's
should be developed for specific areas of interest. In time, the
newsgroup will be backed up by WWW sites where important information
will be archived by subject, and databases on names of participating
scientists/reseach areas etc.  can be stored and accessed.

Commercial announcements are not permitted as this news group is not
intended to be a marketplace. Pointers to more information on
(commercial) products / equipment / activities related to homopteran
insects are allowed.

END CHARTER.

PROCEDURE:

This RFD has been posted in accordance with "Guidelines for Usenet
Newsgroup Creation" by Greg Woods, David C. Lawrence and Gene
Spafford.

After a discussion period of 21-30 days, if no serious objections are
raised, a Call for Votes (CFV) will be issued to the same groups in
which this notice appears.  The vote will be tabulated by a neutral
third party, who will be selected by the established process. The
voting period will be no less than 21 days.  A successful vote
requires that at least 100 more votes are cast for the creation than
against, with an overall majority of 2/3 for creation. If both these
conditions are met the new group will be announced as soon as
practical thereafter.

Discussion should take place *ONLY* in news.groups. If you did not
receive this RFD through news.groups or news.announce.newgroups then
be sure to check if the address field is set appropriately when
mailing any contributions to the discussion. If you do not normally
follow news.groups you should do so for the duration of this RFD.
This is *NOT* a Call for Votes. Please do not cast a vote now.

DISTRIBUTION:

This RFD will be cross posted to the following groups:

news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, sci.agriculture, sci.bio.misc,
sci.bio.entomology.lepidoptera, sci.bio.entomology.misc,
sci.bio.phytopathology, sci.research

It will also be cross-posted to the following listservers

Entomo-L
Hympar-L
Plant Resistance to Pests (PRP) newsletter

Proponents: Maarten van Helden <maarten.vanhelden at medew.ento.wau.nl>
            Yvan Rahbe <rahbe at jouy.inra.fr>
            Rufus Isaacs <rufus at ag.arizona.edu>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
||\\  //||  Dr. Maarten van Helden
|| \\// ||  Department of Entomology
||  \/  ||  Wageningen Agricultural University
||||||||||  Binnenhaven 7, 6709 PD
||      ||  Wageningen, the Netherlands
||      ||  Tel +31-371-485118 Fax +31-371-484821
||      ||  Email: <maarten.vanhelden at medew.ento.wau.nl>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++