In memoriam: Konjev Desender (1956–2008) and Jean-Pierre Maelfait (1951–2009)

It is about a year ago that Belgian biology lost, in quick sequence, two distinguished and internationally known representatives: Konjev Desender and Jean-Pierre Maelfait. Before contemplating this sad loss, allow me to mention some facts, even if they are well known in these circles. Konjev Desender was born in 1956, and graduated in 1978 from the University of Ghent. In 1987, he received his PhD, and in 1990, he joined the Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, where he remained until his untimely death from cancer at the age of 52. Originally interested in birds, Konjev’s attention later turned to ground beetles, and after 1980, he mainly worked with invertebrates. The focus of his research was ground beetles, especially in relation to nature conservation, forestry, and population genetics. He took part in 6 expeditions to the Galapagos Islands (for which I envied him a great deal), has worked on salt marshes around Europe, but above all, worked and collected intensively in Belgium. His work was massive in terms of numbers of beetles collected, driven by keen curiosity, and he understood well that human activities have shaped even the invertebrate fauna of his country. I really liked his work on identifying beetle remains in old wells excavated by archeologists, giving a richer understanding of environments past. This was, however just one facet of his varied activities. He was a hard worker, and published over 350 papers, mostly in collaboration, guided numerous younger scientists, and was active in the Belgian entomological society. He also organised one of the European carabidologist meetings, in 1992, in collaboration with his friend Jean-Pierre Maelfait and other Belgian colleagues. ZooKeys 100: 1–36 (2011)