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Hi Brian

I have been on holiday so missed your message until now. I remember reading your paper on the state of neotropical dipterology and agreeing with all your points. :)

I can't say that I know much (yet) but I have been studying Palearctic tachinids for a few years now and have been also building up a collection of neotropical material (mainly from French Guiana), which I sort into morpho-types using about 70 criteria. It makes for some good winter fun but taking that further and getting identifications or publishing new species always seems a very difficult goal. A few genera jump out and are relatively easy to spot but the lack of good literature and good, named collections nearby hamper the work. Also, I haven't managed to find many workers actually on the ground out in South America.

I think there is no lack of people who would try to work on the neotropics - especially with the potential for discovering new taxa - but this lack of literature and local supporters turns a lot of people off the region. :(

I have had a bit more luck with smaller families like the Pantophthalmidae & Ropalomeridae but I don't have much material yet :)

Chris R.

PS: some ideas to help stimulate interest in the region - we need:

1. an online library of papers, freely downloadable
2. a network of friendly experts/contacts who can be asked for help when the going gets tough
3. more material to be collected from across the regions