Due to unforeseen technical issues, the National Agromyzidae Recording scheme (UK) needs to create a new website before September 2023. The current website (https://agromyzidae.myspecies.info) is used by hundreds of people from all over Europe (and further afield) and to ensure people can still access the most up to date knowledge, a new website needs to be created before it is closed down by Natural History Museum later in the year. This will mean the public can continue to be encouraged, engaged and educated about British Agromyzidae as there are no other resources, online or printed, which provide as much information as the schemes moribund website. I have spent thousands of hours making the current website what it is and it would be a massive blow to all those who use the site and to me personally if this free resource was no longer available.

Unfortunately, the cost of creating a new, equivalent, website is beyond my financial capabilities and as a very last resort, I am hoping anyone who has found the scheme and its website valuable may be so kind enough to help.

If anyone is willing to help by making a donation, details can be found here:

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/agromyzidaerecordingscheme?utm_id=1&utm_term=3zdZDNAmQ

Thank you.

Barry Warrington

UPDATE 29 December 2022
It has been a struggle with many unexpected issues along the way, but with some useful (and also some less useful) advice and actions from the hosting provider it now seems to be working as it is supposed to work, with even registrations from gmail addresses being processed as intended.

Just the other day I found out that email sent to diptera@diptera.info was not forwarded to my gmail address anymore (as it was supposed to be), because it was refused by the google servers. This has been going on for quite a while already without me noticing it. (I guess not receiving notifications of Private Messages should have alerted me.)

Please, note that this may be the issue when you try to register using a gmail address and do not receive any confirmation messages. I apologise to anyone who did not succeed in registering at the site, who may not have received a reply to any questions or issues they tried to contact me about. I will try to catch up...

In the mean time I am working with the hosting providers to solve the issue.

Paul

This message was received from Igor Grichanov:

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.

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

The 36th meeting of the German Diptera study group (AK DIPTERA) is going to take place from 31.05.2019 to 02.06.2019 in southwestern Germany, near the Danube Sinkhole near Tuttlingen (state of Baden-Württemberg). The meeting consists of a scientific symposium on Friday, a Diptera collecting field trip on Saturday, and an optional historic excursion on Sunday (castle Granegg and Beilstein cave). As the venue is located close to the FRENCH and SWISS border, we would be delighted to welcome some of our neighbouring colleagues! If you are interested to participate, send me a PM and I will send you an English version of the registration form with additional details.

Kind regards,

Christian