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The first international conference dedicated to prosimian primates was held in April, 1972 at the Institute of Archaeology of the University of London, and was organised by Bob Martin, Alan Walker and Gerry Doyle. The resultant publication of the conference proceedings (Prosimian Biology, Duckworth, London, 1974) became the "Bible" for prosimian primatologists working in the last decades of the 20th century.
In June 1993, a conference dedicated to the nocturnal prosimians was held at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina. Kay Izard, Lon Alterman and Gerry Doyle once again issued an impressive volume of conference proceedings, entitled Creatures of the Dark: The Nocturnal Prosimians (Plenum Press, New York, 1995).
In September 1995, the Duke meeting was followed by the International Conference on the Biology and Conservation of Prosimians, held at Chester Zoo in the United Kingdom, and organized by Robin Crompton. The proceedings were edited by Caroline Harcourt, Robin Crompton and Anna Feistner, and published as a supplement to Folia Primatologica in 1998. This volume served as a further milestone in the development of prosimian studies, and became as indispensable as the previous volumes of proceedings had been.
A period of ten years has now elapsed, and work on prosimians—particularly on the Malagasy lemuroids—has blossomed in the interim. There is now a pressing need for prosimian biologists to come together again and pool their knowledge and expertise. This time we like to hold the meeting in South Africa, a habitat country. The congress is scheduled to take place from 15–19 July 2007 at Ithala Game Reserve, where a warm and fuzzy welcome will be provided by the friendly greater galagos who frequent the main camp at night.
We intend to publish the Proceedings of the congress, and will be seeking additional funding for this venture.
The following topics will be covered during the congress:
Prosimian Phylogenetics and biogeography
Prosimian Diversity and evolution
Prosimian Social Organisation
Prosimian Sensory ecology and bioacoustics
Prosimian Anatomy and locomotion
Prosimian Palaeontology
Prosimian Conservation
Posters and spoken presentations are invited.
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