Thomas Pape, Daniel Bickel, and Rudolf Meier (eds)
Brill, Leiden and Boston
xix + 459 pages
ISBN: 978–90–04–14897–0
Price: $173 (hardcover)

The last few years have been an exciting time to be a dipterologist. We have an amazing cadre of researchers, some of whom are in the forefront of molecular and morphological systematics, enthusiastic taxonomic experts on nearly every family, a new generation of recent graduates making their mark on the field, and Steve Marshall, surely one of the best insect photographers in the world. In terms of resources, we have most of the world treated with printed catalogs, a wonderful online nomenclator, Systemae Dipterorum, identification manuals to the genus level for the Nearctic, Palearctic, and Central American Regions (with an Afrotropical manual in progress), a beautiful, ever-improving journal (Studia Dipterologica), a robust North American newsletter (Fly Times), periodic North American field meetings, a blossoming Web resource (Diptera.info), and an International Congress of Dipterology every four years. It’s no wonder that books on various aspects of dipterology, or other significant books by (or lead by) dipterists are appearing: we’re all fired up and ready to go!

This multi-authored book is edited by Thomas Pape, Dan Bickel, and Rudolf Meier, three highly accomplished dipterists who all burn with the fire of entomological passion. This shows through in their conceptualization of the book, which is crammed full of information about flies, including survey chapters on the fauna of each biogeographical region (plus one each on the Hawaiian and Galapagos Islands), a group of chapters on “Case Studies, Ecological Approaches, and Estimation,” a third section on bioinformatics as related to Diptera research, and finally an appendix with a list of all fly families with the current number of included species in each. Although all chapters are interesting reading and vital to whole-organism dipterists (not much for Drosophila geneticists here), those by the editors tend to be among the best.
 

In Section I, which accounts for about two thirds of the book’s pages, are regional treatments of the Diptera faunas. All are excellent reading, with two being my favorites: the Neotropical Region by Dalton Amorim and the Palearctic Region by Thomas Pape. Amorim’s chapter stands out for the way he enriches the standard formula requested by the editors with a strong biogeographical perspective to the history of South America. Far ahead of discussions of other regions, Amorim provides actual area cladograms that can be used to provide models to compare with other groups as they become known (there is also an area cladogram in the Oriental Region chapter). Pape’s contribution is an exemplary and (as is typical for him) thorough, scholarly treatment of the history of Palearctic dipterology. It ends with the discussion of a probably extinct, spectacular (well, maybe only to us dipterists), orange-headed bone skipper (family Piophilidae) whose demise was possibly due to the anthropogenic loss of large mammals in Europe. Not seen since the mid-1800s, this fly was amazingly rediscovered recently in Spain active at dusk on deer carcasses in winter! Another long-lost fly is discussed in the next chapter on the Afrotropical Region by Kirk-Spriggs: Mormotomyia, known from a single bat cave in Kenya. It too was recently rediscovered, a coincidence that nevertheless points to the perseverance and drive of our colleagues to collect and study the “ivory-billed woodpeckers” of our discipline.
Although Section II bears the word “ecological” in its subheading, don’t be fooled: the authors of all the book’s chapters bring strong taxonomic backgrounds. Marc Pollet’s chapter on Dolichopodidae as ecological indicators has an interesting list of criteria that the author feels should be met for a taxon to be considered a “good ecological indicator.” Astonishingly, Pollet finds that his group of interest, Dolichopodidae, although useful, does not fulfill all the criteria, a shockingly welcome conclusion from the self-serving result often served up in this type of paper. Another great paper in this section is Dan Bickel’s wry lament about what he calls “open-ended groups.” These are taxa for which he sees no hope that we will ever describe all the species. Such a chapter could be quite depressing, but Bickel, like many of us, enjoys these groups and the challenges they present. Finally, Dikow et al. discuss the use of taxonomic material and examine lists in revisions as high-quality information for databasing, an idea that in hindsight seems astonishingly obvious, but which they use to tremendous effect. Really, all of these chapters are excellent.

In the third part, there are chapters about bioinformatics and Diptera diversity. This includes an incredible analysis of DNA-based taxonomy and “barcoding” based on over 1,000 species of Diptera, an enthusiastic summary of cybertaxonomy tools, and a discussion of the database MANDALA. Although my interest in these chapters decreased sequentially, they are all useful and relevant.
In summary, this is a great book, and one that needs to be read by all dipterists, interested entomologists, and those studying biodiversity as a whole. Most of the authors indulged their obvious enthusiasm (mania?) for their subjects, and provide us with equivalent motivation to do the same. With systematics being portrayed as unglamorous and dull by its detractors, a book like this could change some minds and recruit more eager young students to dipterology. Let’s hope so; the tasks ahead of us are so enormous that we need all the help we can get!

Brian V. Brown
Natural History Museum of
Los Angeles County,
900 Exposition Blvd.
Los Angeles, California, 90007
e-mail: bbrown@nhm.org

American Entomologist
Vol. 57, No.3, Fall 2011