The words pronounced by Serge Kreiter during the meeting come to mind. They could record exactly the situation of Acarology in Europe and in the World: "I think that in many European countries there are very few full time acarologists. It is very rare to have new positions available . . . . And public money, from the European Community but also from national countries, is very hard to get when you want to work on mites . . . . Could two acarological associations in Europe (Eur. A. Ac. and S. I. A. L. F) work together or, better, get married?" So, the fourth symposium of the European...

This volume covers several aspects of the Acarology as presented at The Fourth Symposium of the European Acarologists held in Siena, Italy, July 24-28, 2000. The meeting addressed the direction of today's research, as well as highlighted the challenges of this scientific field. On the basis of the presentations and invited papers, there is evidence of a "new" Acarology based on modern techniques and methods of investigations. It also demonstrated the importance of the "classical" Acarology, based on the alpha taxonomy and original studies.
The Proceedings include selected original works...