To Dr Boris Feodorovich Belyshev on his 80th birthday

Dear Boris Feodorovich, it seems only a while ago since we celebrated your 65 th birthday in ODONATOLOGICA 4 (1975): 207-208, and yet so much has happened since then! And here we are again to offer you, on behalf of our dragonfly family, this special Tribute Issue of the journal that you helped to set up more than two decades ago, and which continues to be one of your responsibilities ever since. It was back in September 1985 that we havefirst made plansfor this issue: we wanted to have it published exactly on your 80th birthday, December 13, 1990. But, unfortunately, we did not succeed. Unforeseen communication difficulties in postal traffic prevented the realisation of the original idea. Even so, we hope that the present collection ofpapers by some of your colleagues and friends from so many countries of the world will stand witness to the worldwide respect for your personality and your dedication to Science, and to the appreciation your very significant contribution to Odonatology enjoys in all quarters of the globe. It is the biogeographic organisation of our planet, as revealed by dragonflies, that you have uncovered and explained to us ever since 1951, in almost 200 publications, among which 7 books. This is a personal opus that only few odonatologists have ever achieved.