So, who am I?  My name is David Rider and I am a professor in the Department of Entomology at North Dakota State University.  I work on the systematics of the superfamily Pentatomoidea and have a separate web site for that group (see our Links page).  I have agreed to serve as the new editor and webmaster for the International Heteropterists' Society web pages, but I will be relying heavily on the IHS Executive Committee (Wenjun Bu, Gerry Cassis, Jocelia Grazia, Ernst Heiss, Paula Mitchell, and Richard Packauskas), the editorial Board (Berend Aukema and Tom Henry), and all of the IHS members to provide anecdotes, photos, information, and any items of interest to add to the website.

At first, I do not plan on making huge changes to the website, so it will still have the same general appearance and navigation that you are used to.  We have transferred the website to servers here at NDSU, and I now have direct access to the site.  This affects things in two basic ways.  First, the URL for the web site has changed; please update your bookmarks to the new address.  Second, by having direct access to the web site, I can make changes/additions/deletions rather quickly.  So, if you have suggestions on how to improve the site, or have items of interest to be added, please send those to me, and I will incorporate those suggestions into the site as best as I can.

As mentioned above, Tom Henry will still be part of the editorial Board.  Also, Berend Aukema has agreed to be part of the Editorial Board, helping especially with the bibliographic databases.

We have added minutes, summaries, and photos from the third quadrennial IHS meetings held July 2006 in Wageningen, Netherlands.  If anyone has additional photos, or anecdotes, please feel free to send them, and I will add them to the web site.  Plans are underway for an informal gathering of Heteropterists at the next International Congress of Entomology meetings to be held in South Africa.  Also, the fourth quadrennial meeting of the IHS will be held in China, 2010.  More information about both of these events will be provided as it becomes available.

We are herewith making a formal request for 2007 membership dues to all members.  Membership in IHS is only $10.00 per year.  Dues are used to offset costs associated with maintaining this website, as well as help in subsidizing meeting costs and membership dues for colleagues that are financially limited.  Remember there are three kinds of members: regular ($10.00/yr.), sustaining ($50.00/yr.), and life ($250.00).  Please send all payments to Dr. Richard Packauskas (rpackaus@fhsu.edu), treasurer, listed under Membership Information.

Information and inquiries about this website should be directed to: David Rider (david.rider@ndsu.edu).

updated: 01 February 2007