This is an interactive site for dipterists from all continents dealing with all aspects of dipterology (the study of Diptera: flies and midges) and dipterists. Here you can submit all your links to dipterological websites and events, post your dipterological queries in the forum, submit articles and news on Diptera, and contribute pictures for the Diptera Gallery. Submissions are open for members and members can contribute to the forums.
If you are dyslexic, please, select the 0_Dyslexia theme in the Theme Switcher panel in the left column.
Enjoy the site and keep helping to build it up to a significant entry point for dipterological research.
Another quick update on the donations received in 2024 so far. Several sizable donations were received and this year's total now covers nearly 80% of the costs for the running the website during the first ten months of this year. All donators: THANK YOU! ;) [4 October 2024]
I just heard that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada intends to eliminate the Diptera unit at the Canadian National Collection as part of a downsizing or cost-cutting measure. Art Borkent is trying to build opposition and is asking dipterists to add their names to an open letter by Tuesday, February 24. The names will be presented to MP Elizabeth May but not published. A message from the Entomological Society of Canada follows.
(This is posted by John Carr. The system thinks all news is posted by Paul Beuk. I will try to fix that.)
On January 8, Oleg Pavlovich Negrobov, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Chair of Zoology and Parasitology of Voronezh State University, passed away. His whole life was associated with the Voronezh University, Russia, where he held the Chair of Ecology and Systematics of Invertebrates for many years.
Oleg Pavlovich was born in Voronezh. In 1959, he entered the Faculty of Biology and Soil Science of Voronezh University, which he graduated with honors. During his studies, Negrobov took part in a number of expeditions to the Caucasus, the Kola Peninsula and the White Sea. In 1964, Oleg Pavlovich entered the postgraduate course of the Zoological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Leningrad, where he prepared a thesis for the degree of candidate of biological sciences (PhD) under the guidance of the famous entomologist Professor A.A. Staсkelberg. The work was defended in 1968. And from the end of 1967, Oleg Pavlovich began working at the Chair of Invertebrate Zoology, Voronezh State University.
Since the first years of his work until the end of his life, he was engaged in research on dipterans. And he was one of the world's leading specialist on the long-legged flies (family Dolichopodidae). He described 13 new genera, about 510 new species and subspecies of this family.
In 1983, Oleg Pavlovich defended his thesis for the scientific degree of Doctor of Biological Sciences (DSc in Biology), and since 1986, he took the position of professor of the Chair of Invertebrate Zoology. Later he became the head of this department, which was transformed under his leadership into the Chair of Ecology and Systematics of Invertebrates. Since September 2020, after merger of two zoological departments, he became a professor at the Chair of Zoology and Parasitology.
See the list of new taxa of Dolichopodidae described by O.P. Negrobov here.
Flower Flies of Northeastern North America
In mid-May this year, our Field Guide to the Flower Flies of Northeastern North America was published (https://press.princeton.edu/titles/14224.html). This book covers all syrphids found from Tennessee north to the high Arctic (including Greenland) and west to roughly the Mississippi River. All 413 known species from this region are included in the guide. In addition to providing identification information on the species, it includes many previously unpublished things (new synonyms, new combinations, undescribed species, DNA evidence for taxonomic decision making, etc.). The book includes many photos of each species (both lab and field photos), maps that include dots for the exact records as well as predictive ranges, silhouettes showing the actual size of the animals, ecological information, etc. There is also an extensive morphology section, glossary, checklist and bibliography.
It is published by Princeton and available from most book sellers (including Amazon, Indigo, Veldshop, Pemberly, etc.).
We hope that you enjoy it and help fill in the many gaps in our knowledge before a second edition.
Jeff
--
Jeff Skevington, Research Scientist
Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
New book: The robberflies of Germany
Finally it is done! The nature guide "The robberflies of Germany" has just been published (in German language):
Many thanks to all of you, who contributed to this book with their faunistic data of asilid findings (pictures) from Germany.
Greetings,
Danny
Simuliid Bulletin Number 49
The Simuliid Bulletin Number 49 (January 2018) is now available for download at the usual site: simuliidbulletin.blogspot.co.uk. You find it by clicking on the link to go to the Simuliid Bulletin Archives.
The main article is an obituary for Dr. Roger Crosskey, but there is also an obiturary for Michael Service and a notice about the forthcoming Symposium in Birmingham.
weiaon 05 January 2026 10:48:39
Female P. auriculata. Please correct the name. View Photo Comment
Nikita Vikhrevon 22 November 2025 09:53:51
Sorry, I forgot to add: photos by Konstantin Tomkovich, collage - mine. View Photo Comment
Nikita Vikhrevon 25 August 2025 22:21:14
There is a Russian idiom, "the world is small." = "мир тесен" . We say so about about an unexpected meeting with someone you know, or about an unexpected discovery with someone you know. Helina major = мир тесен, doesn't it? Curran 1934; Pont 2006' Yakovlev-Tichboaeva-Vikhrev 2025. itt is a good example, doesn't it? View Photo Comment
Nikita Vikhrevon 25 August 2025 21:46:57
I resent my reply to Adrian Ponr and he immediately replied me:
1. Helina is really wonderful.
2. He has one more specimen from 2006, again from SA View Photo Comment
Nikita Vikhrevon 25 August 2025 20:55:16
I was asked: Did I make a mistake thinking it is a male?
Not! It has an impressive genitalia: very hairy and with very modified sternite 5. Dichoptic eyes sometimes takes place in Helina, for example, see H. ciliatocosta.
To be honest, I was very impressed when I saw the three males that were sent to me. Setting aside false modesty, there are two experts on African Muscidae: both of them old: Adrian Pont and me. Looking at my specimens with modified fore-, mid- and hind legs and mid-leg modified very trickly, I prayed that it wasn't an undescribed species.Thanks to Charles Howard Curran it was described. Thanks to Diptera.info there is now a photo of this nice species. View Photo Comment
Anyone have scans of the Genus Semaranga in:
1)Kanmiya, K. (1983) A systematic study of the Japanese Chloropidae (Diptera).
2) Andersson, H. (1977 Taxonomic and Phylogenetic studies on Chloropid
Dr Michael von Tschirnhaus, a leading expert on Chloropidae and Agromyzidae, died on 16 September 2025 at the age of 86. He will be greatly missed by the international community. R.I.P.
Anyone has the scan of "Harkness, R. D.; Ismay, J. W. 1976: A new species of Trachysiphonella (Dipt., Chloropidae) from Greece, associated with an ant Cataglyphis bicolor (F.) (Hym., Formicidae)
I would prefer not to receive any more messages from diptera.info signed by Paul... (Thread reply notification)... Could they be signed by ‘The diptera.info team’?
It is with deepest sadness in my heart that I announce that on Saturday, November 15, one of the great minds of world dipterology, prof. Rudolf Rozkošny, left us forever.
Please remember him with a
