A loss for the blackfly and syrphid communities
Posted by Paul Beuk on 05 November 2013 12:02:47
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"