The 27^th International Congress of Entomology took place 25-30 August in Kyoto, Japan. The theme for the conference was “New discoveries through consilience”. The event brought together 4041 researchers from 82 countries. The opening ceremony was graced by Their Imperial Highnesses Crown Prince and Crown Princess Akishino, a Minister of State, the Governor of Kyoto Prefecture and the Mayor of Kyoto City. During his speech, the Crown Prince also expressed his appreciation for entomology, as he also conducts research on bees.

The program featured six plenary lectures that focused on insect-microbe symbiosis, a new era of insect diversity research, edible insects, applying insect intelligence to engineering, ecological insights for sustainable pest management and surveillance to combat arbovirus transmission and emergence. The congress covered some 19 symposia themes, Women in Entomology activities and a citizen program. As per the theme of the congress, a specially designed app allowed researchers to connect by scanning only a QR code on each attendee’s name tag.

FABIans Prof. Brett Hurley, Dr Privilege Makunde, Dr Rosalie Moffat and former FABIan Dr Mesfin Gossa attended. The venue for the next congress was also announced during the meeting, and excitingly, South Africa will host this meeting in 2028 in Cape Town.

Oral presentations:

Makunde P.T., Slippers B., Bush S.J., Hurley B. Exploring Psyllaephagus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) host specificity towards invasive eucalypt psyllids (Hemiptera: Aphalaridae) in South Africa.

Hurley B. Insect pests of plantation forests in sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and prospects for pest surveillance and management.

Jones M., Yilmaz N., Slippers B., Hurley B., Schrӧder M. Diversity and virulence of Beauveria bassiana cryptic species associated with Gonipterus sp. 2 in South Africa.

Poster presentations:

Gossa M.W., Tanga A.A., Tiki K.R., Kassie W.B., Slippers B., Germishuizen I., Lawson S.A., Healy M., Hurley B. Emerging tree health issues of wattle plantations in Ethiopia.