Eddie John, who coordinates the butterfly recording scheme for Cyprus, together with David Sparrow, who has co-authored a very impressive book on the Reptiles and Amphibians of Cyprus, (though both live in Britain) have embarked on a project to produce a guide to the Wildlife of Cyprus. They are asking various people to help with this, covering different groups of organisms. They have got me involved mainly in providing them with quite a few images but have asked if I could help in either writing or finding someone to write a small chapter on Diptera.
What they are looking for someone willing to write a chapter of perhaps 6 pages which gives some background information about the order, then an indication of the of the main families and then a few representative species. Chapters are aimed at below expert level, but authoritative in style to appeal to those with a keen interest in Cyprus wildlife. They are hoping to have the texts available by the end of the year.

They don't expect the book to be a commercial enterprise so are not in a position to pay for the contributions. The objective is too keep the book affordable in the hope of stimulating greater interest in the island's biodiversity among both tourists and residents and all involved are doing this for nothing as they feel they want to 'put something back'.

I do not think there would be a great deal of work involved. There is no need for great deal of text, more important to illustrate a few of the common or distinctive representative species though it would be necessary to ensure that these are correctly identified and that names are those in current use. I do have images of a few species taken in Cyprus which I can send you if you wish.
Anyway I think at this stage that is sufficient as preliminary information. Please let me know if anyone might be interested or if you want more information / have any questions I will hope to help.

Please contact me direct in the first instance if anyone might be interested.

Many thanks

Alan

Two great dipterists are gone in the last two weeks.

Vadim Filippovich Zaitsev, former Deputy Director of the Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, the most for his studies of Palaearctic Bombyliidae, died on February 5, 2012 at the age of 77, in Saint Petersburg.

Donald Henry [Don] Colless, former Senior Research Officer and Chief Curator, ANIC in 1960-1987, known for his Diptera chapters in "The Insects of Australia" (with D. K. McAlpine) and his papers on Australian Cyclorrhapha, peacefully passed away at night of February 16/17, 2012 at the age of 90 years in Canberra.

Rest in Peace.

Due to increasing problems with mail from the site being rejected by some mailservers I have changed some settings. These settings, I am afraid, can only be tested in realtime. I apologise in advance if it has adverse effects that you migh now not receive any emails. The link to contact the webmaster should still work, so drop me a note if you have any problems.

Paul

Whether any one care or not, the Systema Dipterorum (www.diptera.org) online database to names of flies has been closed down.

This database which has had various names over the years as I have migrated from different jobs but never really has been supported to provide information about fly names is finally being retired as I have been kicked out by Bob Robinson of Smithsonian of my last home after almost a half century of what I thought was a useful and productive association.

However, this has a positive aspect. Clearly the Smithsonian has decided Diptera names and associated information has no value to the public. Whether that is true or not now can be determined. So, if you feel Systema Dipterorum was useful, complain! The key players are Jon Coddington (coddingtonj@si.edu) and Bob Robinson (robinsonb@si.edu).

Sincerely,

Chris [Thompson]
By now the site has re-opened.

Dear colleagues,

I would like to inform you and to invite you to the 5th International Simuliidae Symposium which will take place between 3rd and 7th September 2012 in Bratislava (Department of Zoology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia). The 3rd September will be for registration and in the evening a welcome reception. Lectures will be on 4 and 6 September and on 7 September a.m. On 5 September a whole day field excursion is planned.

Within few weeks the registration form with more detailed information will be sent ou. All information and the registration form will be available also on the web page http://zoology.fns.uniba.sk/simulium2012/.

For this email I am using a slightly updated list of receipts based mostly on the email lists from the previous symposia, therefore probably following three weaknesses can be involved: a) some of you will receive it in multiple copies; b) this information is sent to receipts who are not working with simuliids; c) some of potentially interested participants will not receive this information. I apologize to all these groups and if you know somebody from the last one, please inform him about the symposium.

Best regards,

Matus

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Matus Kudela
Department of Zoology
Comenius University
Mlynska dolina
SK-842 15 Bratislava
Slovakia