I am now back in Berlin from my trip to Mexico, where I had a delightfully splendid time at the International Symposium on Neuropterology in Mexico City, Mexico. The symposium was thoroughly enjoyable; it was a pleasure to meet so many friendly and interesting people who work on Neuropterida, some of them for the first time, and some with whom I have only previously communicated via email. I was particularly delighted to find out that a few fellow palaeoentomologists had come over for the symposium, to present their work on fossil neuropterans, in total there were four of us: me, Alexander Khramov, Yongjie Wang, and Dong Ren.
Jardín Botánico.
The symposium was from the 12 -15th of May at the Jardín Botánico, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. The talks were held throughout the first three days, and the third day also had a poster session. The topics covered a wide spectrum of neuropterological research including: big data and today’s systematics (the key note lecture by Karl M. Kjer), the development of a global monograph of the Neuropterida, phylogenies of different families using molecular and morphological data, diversity of different neuropterid families, faunas of different countries, the fossil record, ecology, and applied studies. All the presentations at the symposium, both oral and poster, were of a very high quality and thoroughly interesting. The social aspect of the symposium was also excellent with an icebreaker on the first night at the hotel to get to know each other. Also, on the subsequent evenings, trips to different parts of Mexico City (Coyoacán and Tlalpan) for dinner, allowing us to sample the Mexican food (or if you’re me – trying to find some kind of vegan food, which is not easy!) and drink.
Me presenting at the symposium (photograph by Caroline Ring)
The poster session
On the final day of the conference, there was a short excursion to the UNESCO heritage site of Teotihuacán, north of Mexico City. This was a pre-Colombian Mesoamerican city established around 100 BC, at its peak (possibly in the first half of the first millennium AD) it covered 36 square kilometers and had a very large population, making it a one of the most important cities in the pre-Colombian Americas. The main highlights of this archaeological site are the two pyramids, the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun. These are considered the most architecturally significant Mesoamerican pyramids, and they were very impressive. It was an absolute pleasure for me to visit Teotihuacán, as I have always wanted to visit an archaeological site like this, especially with pyramids, since reading about them when I was child.
Pyramid of the Sun
Pyramid of the Moon
View of the Avenue of the Dead from the Pyramid of the Moon
Painting of a Jaguar
After visiting the pyramids, the conference concluded with the symposium dinner at the Hacienda de Tlalpan, a rather posh restaurant in a nice old building, which had a garden containing white peacocks, a mute swan, and crowned cranes. The food (including a vegan option) and drinks were excellent, and there was also a surprise with a Mexican band and even dancing.
The morning after the meal, we set off on a coach journey for the post symposium field excursion to the rainforest at Los Tuxtlas (more on this in the next blog post).
The symposium was really enjoyable, it was good to meet other neuropterologists, learn about other aspects of neuropterology, and exchange ideas. The organisers, Atilano Contreras-Ramos and his team, including Roberto López-García and Valeria Cuellar-Sánchez (who were a great help – especially in helping me track down some vegan food) did an absolutely fantastic job, making it a really excellent, friendly symposium.
A lizard on basalt in the Jardín Botánico
