Please see this notice regarding John Ljubenkov and Julie Schneider-Ljubenkov
[revised 5 Apr 2013]

Welcome to SCAMIT!

Upcoming SCAMIT Meetings

Bight ’13 Prep Meetings

We were recently asked if people who are not associated with Bight ’13 could attend our Bight ’13 prep meetings. The answer is yes. All members of SCAMIT as well as non-members interested in the topics are welcome to participate. Any handouts or voucher sheets distributed at these meetings will be available afterwards on our website and newsletters.

Monday 13 May 2013 9:30–3:30
4th Bight ‘13 preparation meeting, Mollusca at Orange County Sanitation District.

Kelvin Barwick will lead a review of recent literature and changes that affect us. Anyone with taxonomic problems should bring them up at the meeting. New ID sheets of older provisionals or known species also welcome. More information will be provided closer to the meeting date.

Late May / Early June 2013

There will be at least 1 additional polychaete meeting in late May or early June. Drs. Luis Carrera-Parra and Sergio Salazar-Vallejo will be visiting the NHMLAC Polychaete Section between 19 May and 8 June, and have agreed to discuss their current projects with us. The date and actual topics will be announced later.

Monday 10 June 2013 9:30–3:30
5th Bight ‘13 preparation meeting, Crustacea Review at San Diego.

Dean Pasko will lead a review of recent literature and changes that affect us. Anyone with taxonomic problems should bring them up at the meeting. New ID sheets of older provisionals or known species also welcome. More information will be provided closer to the meeting date.

July 2013

We normally don’t have a meeting in July as most of our core members are busy sampling. This July will be even busier than usual due to Bight ’13 field work. We may have a SCAMIT weekend beach party towards the end of the month if enough members are free. Location will be halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, probably in the Dana Point or Laguna area. Stay tuned!

Friday 13 September 2013 9:30–3:30 (Note: Friday)
Opistobranch update at LACM.

Dr. Angel Valdes will bring us up to date on research being done in his lab. Local species studied recently include Haminoea japonica, Felimare californiensis, Polycera atra, Navanax inermis, and Phyllaplysia taylori. Attendees can bring their branch questions and oddball or problematic specimens for Angel’s review. The meeting date has been moved to Friday to accommodate Angel’s teaching schedule.

Friday 8 November 2013 9:30–3:30 (Note: Friday)
Aplacophora workshop (location to be announced).

Led by Dr. Pam Neubert and Don Cadien. Pam will be in southern California for a November conference and kindly agreed to extend her visit long enough to visit with us. We’ll have more information closer to the date but expect a general overview of latest information about the group and possibly a look at some of our local species. Pam was part of Amelie Scheltema’s PEET project on aplac taxonomy which produced the very useful Aplacophora Home Page at: http://www.whoi.edu/science/B/aplacophora

Questions? Contact: Leslie Harris at lharris@nhm.org or Larry Lovell at llovell@lacsd.org.

Upcoming Meetings of Interest

April 29 – May 4, 2013
Fourth Taxonomy Workshop — Bryozoans and Hydroids at Tropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore

The goal of the biodiversity workshop series is to impart to participants the necessary skills and knowledge to begin to address the systematics and biology of tropical marine organisms. In this fourth workshop, we will focus on bryozoans (Phylum Bryozoa) and hydroids (Phylum Cnidaria, Class Hydrozoa, Order Hydroida). The workshop focuses on hands-on laboratory sessions where participants learn to prepare collected specimens for identification, including anatomical examination. Field trips will be conducted to complement the laboratory work. Details are in the attached flyer.

June 23 – 26, 2013
46th Annual Meeting of the Western Society of Malacologists at Courtyard by Marriott in San Diego

Registration forms and meeting information are in the attached flyer.

June 30 – July 5, 2013
International Workshop on Symbiotic Copepoda at University of Limpopo, Department of Biodiversity, Mankweng, South Africa

This is a followup to the first IWSOC, held during December 2010 at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. The organizers are eager to hear from potential attendees before September 2012. Details are in the attached letter.

August 4 – 9, 2013
11th International Polychaete Conference 2013 at the Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia

Note that “Earlybird” registration prices end on 31 March. Late registration fees apply after 1 July. There are also pre-conference courses and workshops: Philosophy of Biological Systematics, Identification of Invasive Polychaetes, and Microscope Photography and Preparation of Material for SEM.
More information at the conference website: http://www.ipc2013.com.au/.

June 23 – 27, 2014
Mollusca 2014: Meeting of the Americas at Universidad National Autónoma de Mexico

Mollusca 2014 will be held at the Library Complex Amoxcalli in the Facultad de Ciencias, the Universidad National Autónoma de Mexico. We are expecting a wide global participation in the Congress, and anticipate highlighting the tremendous progress in molluscan research of the Americas. Oral talks and posters will be considered on any topic related to mollusks including, but not limited to, taxonomy, ecology, biology, evolution, fisheries, and the distribution and conservation of marine, terrestrial, and freshwater mollusks. For further information, visit the Santa Barbara Museum website or contact Paul Valentich-Scott at pvscott@sbnature2.org

Job Openings

Newsletters

Delonovolva aequalis
Delonovolva aequalis

Thanks to the scanning efforts of Rick Rowe and the Orange County Sanitation District, and PDF processing by Cheryl Brantley, our collection of SCAMIT newsletters is complete. You're welcome to visit the latest newsletter, as well as journey into the past.

SCAMIT Swag

SCAMIT mug

You know you've always needed a SCAMIT logo sweatshirt... mug... wallclock... whatever. Here's your chance. A rich array of SCAMIT paraphernalia is now available at Cafepress.