Hymathon 2024 was held online 5-6 December.
Hymathon took place over 24 hours, with four sessions.
Hymathon was back bigger and better than ever in 2024.
- 176 participants from 36 countries
- 45 presentations (including 4 keynotes); presenters from 14 countries
- 43 entries in the art competition
- 7 Hymenoptera Showdown entries
- 3 Socials
| Session 1 | 05/12/2024 starting at ~17:00 UTC (TBC) | Hosted by Jessica Awad |
| Session 2 | 06/12/2024 starting at ~00:00 UTC (TBC) | Hosted by Miles Zhang |
| Session 3 | 06/12/2024 starting at ~06:00 UTC (TBC) | Hosted by Zoltán László |
| Session 4 | 06/12/2024 starting at ~13:00 UTC (TBC) | Hosted by Cristina Vasilița & Manuela Sann |
The 2024 ISH Business Meeting was also be held during Hymathon on Friday 6 December at 08:45 UTC (recording available to members, coming soon).
There were socials at the end of three of the sessions led by Erinn Fagan-Jeffries, involving a quiz, a scavenger hunt and breakout rooms.
Student Presentation Winners:
15 minutes presentations:
- Session 1: Cristina Vasilita – 130 myo wasps and the evolution of the telescopic ovipositor
- Session 2 Mollie-Rosae Slater-Baker – Investigating the biodiversity and systematics of Australian rogadine parasitoid wasps using DNA barcoding and phylogenomics (Hymenoptera, Braconidae, Rogadinae)
- Session 4: Tobias Salden – One Name, Many Faces: Exploring the Diversity of Aphanogmus Thomson, 1858 (Hymenoptera: Ceraphronidae) with Emphasis on the Caucasus Region
5 minutes presentations:
- Tareva-Chine Atkin-Zaldivar – Think Pink! The Taxonomy and Systematics of Gall-inducing Tanaostigmatidae
Showdown winner:
Eucharitidae (represented by Natalie Dale-Skey)
Art Competition Audience Choice winners:
Photography – Specimen
Megaphragma longiciliatum Subba Rao
By Andrew Polaszek
Photography – Live Hymenoptera
Orchid bee in flight
By Aidan Hersh
Photography – Hymenopterists in action
Lenses on the Littlest Lives: Hymenopterists at Work
By Madalene Giannotta
Illustration – Scientific illustrations
Fore wings of three diapriid wasps
By Kendrick Fowler
Illustration – Fun & Artsy Hymenoptera/Hymenopterists
The Milkmaid
By Rachel Behm
Don’t forget you can see all the entries here!
Program
The schedule is also available as a public Google calendar (click on “Agenda” or choose “Schedule” in the top right corner to have a list view of the talks); all times should appear in GMT and be converted to your own time-zone if you add the calendar to your own)
Scientific talks
Deadline to register a talk was 5 November and is now closed.
Keynote talks
Session 1: John Heraty, University of California Riverside (USA)
A Passion for Parasitoids – 45 Years of Chasing Eucharitid Wasps
Session 2: Eduardo Almeida, University of São Paulo in Ribeirão Preto (Brazil)
The evolutionary history of bees in time and space
Session 3: Graham Stone, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
The trouble with parasitoids? Pattern and process in the global evolution
of oak gall phenotypes
Session 4: Tamara Spasojevic, Natural History Museum in Vienna (Austria)
Evolving perspectives in Hymenoptera systematics
Hymenoptera Showdown
Refereed in 2024 by Erinn Fagan-Jeffries
A brand new addition last year in #Hymathon2023, the Hymenoptera Showdown is back in 2024! The showdown is an opportunity to tell all ISH members why your group is the best (or at least the best loved…) – in three minutes and three slides.
GET READY TO RUMBLE!!
Do you think that your study group is the best in the entire Hymenoptera order? Is there one taxon so amazing you want to tell everyone about it? Then it is your time to shine and embrace some friendly showdown!
Here are the rules:
Participants will have 3 minutes to demonstrate why their group is the best in the entire Hymenoptera, backing up that assertion with a mix of fun, cool and scientific facts; presentations will be 3 slides maximum. Anything can be used: beautiful images of specimens, amazing biological traits, astonishing species diversity, a unique distribution, body size, fossil record, cool names, importance, society recognition… the sky is the limit to brag about your group!
Taxa can be chosen at any level (from suborder to species); depending on the number of participants some categories may be established, for example, entries at family level or higher versus entries at genus level or lower, to guarantee fair comparisons and competition.
The winners will be selected by popular vote and will win glory to boast about their group to the entire Hymenoptera society!
Note: In 2024, presentations are encouraged to be pre-recorded so that they are available to view throughout Hymathon.
See the 2023 entries here for inspiration (you must be logged into the website to view the page)
Art competition
Run by Cristina Vasilița
All ISH members are invited to take part!
We bring the Art Competition back with five exciting categories (see below) for Photography & Illustrations. Submit your work and share your unique vision! The competition is open to current ISH members only and will be judged by Hymathon attendants through online voting. The winning entries will be featured in the next issue of Hamuli.
For questions and additional information please email Cristina ( cristina.vasilita [at] smns-bw.de).
Images can be entered in the following categories:
• Photography – Specimen :Specimen images of Hymenoptera.
• Photography – Live Hymenoptera :Live Hymenoptera images photographed in the field or in the indoor studio.
• Photography – Hymenopterists in action :Field work pictures, humorous or intriguing pictures of hymenopterists at work.
• Illustration – Scientific illustrations: Detailed and accurate drawings that represent the morphology and anatomy of Hymenoptera. These illustrations should be designed to provide a clear understanding of the species, highlighting specific features that may be of scientific interest, and can be used in research papers, taxonomic keys, or educational materials.
• Illustration – Fun & Artsy Hymenoptera/Hymenopterists: Creative and imaginative artworks that showcase Hymenoptera or Hymenopterists in a playful, artistic, or unconventional manner. These can be abstract interpretations, cartoons, or any other artistic renditions that bring out the fun and whimsical side of Hymenoptera and their researchers.
Student presentation prizes
There are student prizes for best standard-length talk in each session, and a prize for the best speed talk throughout all of Hymathon. Students are judged on scientific content and presentation. See here for the scorecard used for the 15 minute talks and here for the scorecard used for 5 minute talks.
#Hymathon2024 Organising Committee