On the Simuliidae mailing list, Ladislav Jedlička passed on the message below he received from Dr. Sukhomlin:

"I want to tell you a sad news. Ukrainian entomology suffered a several loss. Dr. Zinaida Vasilyevna Usova passed away on October 10, 2013."

Dr. Usova was known blackfly specialist , author of many papers and books on Simuliidae, last one probably on blackflies of North Europe (as co-author).

Frank Van de Meutter posted this on the Syrphidae mailing list:

"Dear all, the news has been spread before locally, however, it has not reached the community outside Belgium I think. This spring Luc Verlinden passed away. Luc was the true pioneer of expert Belgian Syrphidae faunistics, however, he soon also specialised in Alpine Syrphidae. He probably is best known for its contributions – several excellent taxonomic papers eg on Cheilosia and Pipizella with the description of a new taxon. People that study the Western European fauna will remember his books too, with their magnificent drawings. These books have educated and inspired many of the people that do study syrphids today, including me. He was unable to continue his valuable work the past ten years due to a most unfortunate accident – his merits cannot be underestimated though. Above all he was a true gentleman loved by all people that have cooperated with him. He will be missed.

Frank"

The undersigned are working on illustrated field keys for the identification of craneflies and related families of the Netherlands, Belgium en Luxembourg (in Dutch). The field keys treat the larger species (wing length 10 mm or more) and, if smaller, the remarkable species of the families Cylindrotomidae, Limoniidae, Pediciidae, Tipulidae, Trichoceridae, and, although less related, the Ptychopteridae.

The first two parts are Introduction and Terminology. Part 3 is the Main Key which leads to 11 keys for the separate groups. Final part is an overview of all species of the Benelux. So, in total 15 parts. The first 5 are available now online. We hope to publish the other parts in 2014. Plans are to have an English version available in 2015.

The first 5 parts are PDF's files, available from the Catalogue of the Craneflies of the World (CCW) at http://nlbif.eti.uva.nl/ccw/. From the "Literature" page of this website some 2400 "Cranefly" PDF's can be downloaded. Search at "Author" for "Peeters" to reach the PDF's for download.

Advantage of online publication is that keys can easily be changed and updated. We look forward to your remarks about the use and content of the keys gladly and with interest.

With best wishes,

Kris Peeters (peeters.heyrman@scarlet.be)
Pjotr Oosterbroek (p.oosterbroek@chello.nl)

The Distributed European School of Taxonomy (DEST) has launched two types of training courses at various European research facilities and universities. The Modern Taxonomy programme 2013-2014 offers intensive theoretical courses in subjects as varied as nomenclature and DNA-barcoding. The Expert-in-training programme 2013-2014 enables graduate students and early career researchers to develop and strengthen their taxonomic research skills through on-the-job-training.

Within the latter programme, two courses focus on Diptera and might be of particular interest to you:

Taxonomy of European biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)
Training program in Entomology (special. Diptera Syrphidae), emphasis on collection management and bioindicator used

New training providers are most welcome to participate in training delivery within the Distributed European School of Taxonomy. For more information, please mail us at dest-training@naturalsciences.be or have a look here.

PhD students within the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative, the Israel Taxonomy Initiative and the Research School in Biosystematics (ForBio) might receive support to attend DEST-courses. For details, please contact STI, ITI or ForBio.

With best regards,

Dr Hendrik Gheerardyn
Dr Isabella Van de Velde

---

DEST Training
www.taxonomytraining.eu
dest-training@naturalsciences.be

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Vautierstraat 29, B-1000 Brussel, Belgium
Tel: + 32 2 627 43 34 (336)
http://www.naturalsciences.be

The 19th International Symposium on Chironomidae is to be held in České Budějovice, Czech Republic, August 17-20, 2014 (post-meeting excursions scheduled for August 21-22).

For invitation, etc., see http://web.blatna.cuni.cz/chironomidae/.

We gladly inform you that the 1st issue of the fourth volume of "Ukrainska Entomofaunistyka" was published on June 24, 2013.

https://sites.google.com/site/ukrentfau/contents-1

Contents Volume 4 No. 1:

1. Korneyev V.A., & D.A. Evstigneev, 2013. Key to European species of the genus Oxyna Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 (Diptera: Tephritidae), with New Records from Russia. - Ukrainska Entomofaunistyka 4(1): 1-23.

2. Korneyev, V.A., & N. Pérez Hidalgo, 2013. Rediscovery of Oxyna obesa Loew (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Spain. - Ukrainska Entomofaunistyka 4(1): 24.

3. Verves, Yu.G., 2013. The Flies (Diptera) of Park “Theophania”, Kyiv. 2. Sarcophagidae. - Ukrainska Entomofaunistyka 4(1): 25-32.

4. Budashkin, Yu., I. & A.V. Zhakov , 2013. Case-bearer moths (Lepidoptera, Coleophoridae): Contribution to the Ukrainian steppe zone fauna. Third Report. - Ukrainska Entomofaunistyka 4(1): 33-42.

5. Borysenko, N.N., 2013. Contribution to study of Neuroptera in the North-Eastern Part of Cherkasy Region. - Ukrainska Entomofaunistyka 4(1): 43-47.

6. Evstigneev, D.A., 2013. The first find of Terellia odontolophi (Diptera, Tephritidae) in Russia. - Ukrainska Entomofaunistyka 4(1): 48.

7. Sergeev, M.Ye., 2013. The first find of Zygogramma suturalis (Coleoptera,Chrysomelidae, Chrysomelinae) in the Right-Bank Ukraine. - Ukrainska Entomofaunistyka 4(1): 49-51.

8. Korneyev, V.A., & A.V. Prokhorov, 2013. The first record of Neoalticomerus formosus Loew (Diptera: Odiniidae) from Ukraine. - Ukrainska Entomofaunistyka 4(1): 52.

9. [Editorial] Josyp Trokhymovych Pokoziy (1924–2012). - Ukrainska Entomofaunistyka 4(1): 53.

Valery A. Korneyev aka Nosferatumyia