In this episode, Michael and Jonathan speak with Dr. Val Korneyev, professor of entomology and head of the Entomology Department at the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology in Kyiv, Ukraine. Topics discussed include his work with tephritoid fruit flies, the 6 million specimen collection at the institute, and evacuating important type specimens from Kyiv to Berlin, Germany during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Other anecdotes include coming of age as a scientist in the USSR during the 1980's and dealing with the KGB, the view of Ukrainian science to some in Western Europe and the Americas, as well as the future of Ukrainian entomology after the war.
If you want to learn more about Val's scholarly work, here are his Google Scholar profile and Research Gate profile, as well as presentations he's given on Old World Pyrgotidae and “Parasitic Fruit Flies”: Pyrgotidae, Ctenostylidae, Tachiniscidae.
Questions? Comments?
Follow the hosts on Twitter @bugmanjon, @JodyBugsmeUNL, and @MSkvarla36
Subscribe to our feed on Feedburner!
This episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
