Dr Torsten Dikow, a renowned entomologist specializing in Diptera and cybertaxonomy, has been appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief of ZooKeys, the leading scholarly journal in systematic zoology and biodiversity.

With expertise in true flies (order Diptera) and cybertaxonomy, Dr Dikow has been chosen to succeed the late Dr Terry Erwin, a celebrated entomologist and founding Editor-in-Chief of ZooKeys who passed away in May 2020, leaving behind a significant scientific legacy and fond memories.

Currently, Dr Dikow is a Research Entomologist and Curator of Diptera and Aquatic Bugs at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (Washington, DC, USA). His research interests include the diversity and evolutionary history of the superfamily Asiloidea, which comprises unique insect groups such as assassin flies/robber flies and mydas flies. With an extensive list of research publications, Dr Dikow’s studies on the diversity, biology, distribution, and systematics of asiloid flies have resulted in the description of 60 species of assassin flies and the redescription of many more through comprehensive taxonomic revisions.

Dr Dikow received his M.S. in Zoology from the University of Rostock (Germany) and his Ph.D. in Entomology from Cornell University (New York, USA), with three years of dissertation research conducted at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH).

During his postdoctoral years at the Field Museum (Illinois, USA), Dr Dikow was actively involved in the broader activities of the Encyclopedia of Life through its Biodiversity Synthesis Center (BioSynC) and the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). He personally established contacts with smaller natural history museums and scientific societies, encouraging them to grant digitization permissions to the BHL for in-copyright scientific publications. Dr Dikow is a strong advocate for cybertaxonomic tools and making biodiversity data accessible from both natural history collections and publications. He has been named a Biodiversity Open Data Ambassador by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).

Dr Dikow is no stranger to ZooKeys and other journals published by the open-access scientific publisher and technology provider Pensoft. For the past 10 years, he has been one of the most active editors and a regular author and reviewer at ZooKeys, Biodiversity Data Journal, and African Invertebrates.

“Publishing taxonomic revisions and species descriptions in an open-access, innovative journal to make data digitally accessible is one way we taxonomists can and need to contribute to the biodiversity knowledge base. ZooKeys has been a journal in support of this goal since day one. I am excited to lend my expertise and enthusiasm to further this goal and continue the development of publishing foundational biodiversity research, species discoveries, and much more in the zoological field,”

said Dr Dikow.