Principal researchers who studied black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) of Eastern Siberia, Russia
Co-operation between the zoologist V.Ch. Doro-gostaisky and the entomologist I.A. Rubtsov first promoted the study of black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) in the Baikal region of East Siberia during the 1930s. This facilitated Rubtsov to successfully study the systematics and ecology of black flies in the Palearctic. Of the 261 species described by Rubtsov cited in the Catalogue of Diptera of the World, 37 % of all black flies are known from the Palearctic. Information on the diversity of the blood-sucking fly complex revealed by Rubtsov is particularly important for specialists in environmental and medical parasitology.