Dr. James H. Hunt                Department of Biology
phone 314-553-6209               University of Missouri - St. Louis
fax 314-553-6233                 St. Louis, MO 63121
Bitnet C4926@UMSLVMA             U.S.A.
 
Dear BEE-L subscribers:
 
     I need help.  For the upcoming IUSSI Congress in Bangalore I am
co-organizing (with Christine Nalepa of North Carolina State U.) a
symposium entitled:  "The Role of Nourishment in the Ontogeny and
Evolution of Insect Societies."  Christine works on wood roaches; I
work mostly on wasps.  We have speakers on subsocial insects, termites,
legionary ants, and other taxa.  Our coverage of bees, however, is
weak.  Rinus Sommeijer (Univ. Utrecht) is a probable contributor on
Meliponines, and I have a possible speaker in mind for Apis (though I
welcome your comments/suggestions on Apis/Bombus).  I have no leads
at all, though, on non-apine bees.  Who might be appropriate to
review the role of nourishment in the social biology of halictines
and/or allodapines?
     Possible topics for such a review would include:  food sources
(e.g., seasonality, abundance, reliability); nourishment (e.g.,
developmental constraints); provisioning (e.g., behavior, differential
provisioning and caste); trophallaxis; and the relation between
nourishment and ovarian development.
     A two-page summary of the presentation would be published in the
proceedings of the Bangalore Congress.  Preliminary investigation has
suggested the likelihood that the full symposium proceedings, plus
a couple of additional contributions, may be published as a book after
the congress.
     Any comments?  Suggestions?  A volunteer?
     What about Bombus?
 
I look forward to hearing from you.
 
Jim Hunt