Editorial

The Executive Editors of the Bulletin of Insectology are pleased to publish the papers based on the extended abstracts and posters presented at the 4th European Hemiptera Congress. All the papers were reviewed and accepted on 31 August 2007 by the Scientific Committee of the Congress and submitted for editing on 4 March 2008. The members of the Bulletin of Insectology’s Editorial Board are now discharging their responsibilities. Let me first thank all our contributors and note that it is a pleasure to give them the opportunity to publish the 61 short papers that, individually and collectively, advance our understanding of the vast insect order Rhynchota a step further. Like some other Italian entomologists, as pointed out by Prof. Alma, I too still prefer to maintain this term instead of Hemiptera. Half-wing (hemelytron) reflects an etymology that does not fit with the wing morphology of insect species of the suborder Homoptera. Both Heteroptera and Homoptera are characterized by piercing and sucking mouthparts, the typical beak from the Greek rhyncho, which, to be exact, distinguishes the Rhynchota order. Actually, Sternorrhyncha is the only term that retains the beak-related feeding mode in the Hemiptera taxon group since Auchenorrhyncha have been split into Cicadomorpha and Fulgoromorpha! Despite this fact, the 13th International Auchenorrhyncha Congress has already been planned! In any case, the term Hemiptera has now been adopted worldwide and is deemed to be exact. Given the huge number of congresses dedicated to this group “bugs”, as the 4th “European Hemiptera” event, maybe it would funny to call the next meeting the “5th European Rhynchota Congress”! Talking seriously; irrespective of terminology, it is my hope that contributors will appreciate seeing their papers published on the Bulletin of Insectology, which in addition gives the opportunity to exchange PDF reprints through free open-access on the web site. I definitely appreciate receiving the pen-pal e-mails from the many “hemipterologists” (or should that be “rhynchotologists”?), who have contributed with their insights. These and other similar ways of exchanging information help to increase cooperation and the number of interesting papers that will be submitted to our journal in the near future. The Editorial Board and I are very grateful, indeed.