Collecting trips: 1. Trap investigation from 1992 summer to 1993 summer. Locality: Mt. Sanage, Aichi, Japan. Trap: Malaise, emergence and yellow pan. Environment: a primeval forest predominantly evergreen oaks and hemlock; b) a secondary forest mainly deciduous oaks and red pine. Result: 35 families, 20,000 parasitic wasps were mounted, in which Scelionidae with 24 genera (2 are new ?), Platygastridae with 21 genera (3 are new ?) and Diapriidae with 20 genera (uncertain). 2. Trap investigation from April 1994 (in progress). Locality: Uradani (900m), Shitara, Aichi, Japan; in a primeval forest mainly beech and hemlock. Trap: Malaise, emergence, ground and aerial yellow pans.
Projects in progress: 1. Description of a new genus of Sceliotrachelinae from Japan. 2. Biodiversity of Japanese Proctotrupoides (s.l.). (This project is like picking up grains of black sand in the desert).
Papers published or in press: Bibliography number 79.
Miscellaneous news: The t-butanol freeze-drying method. When I dry parasitic wasps from 70% ethanol, I use this method instead of the critical point drier. After micro-wasps are transferred in 99% ethanol and then in 99% t-butanol (in the warm room), they are freezed with t-butanol in a refrigerator (under +20 C). Next, the ice, including wasps, is dried in a vacuum drier with a trap for butanol. It is very easy and excellent method and its running cost is cheaper than that of the critical point drier.
Suggestions about PROCTOS: New newsletter name: "Melano wasps" or "Melo wasps" (In Japan, Proctotrupoidea is called "Kuro-bachi" meaning black-wasp, but black is usually used bud examples, so how about "melano").
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