Torsten Dikow
@tdikow.bsky.social
biodiversity researcher - discovering fly species - deciphering their evolutionary history - natural history collections + digitization + data - #asiloidflies - deserts - photography - views mine
ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4816-2909
ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4816-2909
Very bad field photo of new species Acnephalomyia metallicoindica perching on pebble (can you find it?) at Hope Mine Wash, Namib Desert - tiny (body length = 5 mm, wing length = 3.8-4.2 mm) + active flies - type locality always very hot, but 9 Asilidae species so far collected by me
#asiloidflies
#asiloidflies
October 31, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Very bad field photo of new species Acnephalomyia metallicoindica perching on pebble (can you find it?) at Hope Mine Wash, Namib Desert - tiny (body length = 5 mm, wing length = 3.8-4.2 mm) + active flies - type locality always very hot, but 9 Asilidae species so far collected by me
#asiloidflies
#asiloidflies
another interesting species is Acenphalomyia eremia Londt, 2010 - previously only known from 1 holotype in eastern region of southern Namib Desert - now abundantly recorded from Gobabeb Namib Research Institute (gobabeb.org) + surrounding habitats - endemic to sand dunes small + big
#asiloidflies
#asiloidflies
October 31, 2025 at 3:02 PM
another interesting species is Acenphalomyia eremia Londt, 2010 - previously only known from 1 holotype in eastern region of southern Namib Desert - now abundantly recorded from Gobabeb Namib Research Institute (gobabeb.org) + surrounding habitats - endemic to sand dunes small + big
#asiloidflies
#asiloidflies
specimen occurrence data-set of all 4 species in southern Namib Desert at @gbif.org doi.org/10.15468/2bb...
all specimen images in full resolution at @figshare.com doi.org/10.25573/dat...
online key to species at Lucidcentral keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v4/acne...
#asiloidflies
all specimen images in full resolution at @figshare.com doi.org/10.25573/dat...
online key to species at Lucidcentral keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v4/acne...
#asiloidflies
Occurrence data of Acnephalomyia (Diptera: Asiloidea: Asilidae) in the southern Namib Desert
Occurrence data of the Afrotropical Asilidae genus Acnephalomyia in the southern Namib Desert, Namibia, based on a new taxonomic review in 2025.
doi.org
October 31, 2025 at 2:56 PM
specimen occurrence data-set of all 4 species in southern Namib Desert at @gbif.org doi.org/10.15468/2bb...
all specimen images in full resolution at @figshare.com doi.org/10.25573/dat...
online key to species at Lucidcentral keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v4/acne...
#asiloidflies
all specimen images in full resolution at @figshare.com doi.org/10.25573/dat...
online key to species at Lucidcentral keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/v4/acne...
#asiloidflies
Fun project + 1st in a row focusing on asiloid flies from "southern Namib Desert" (in green on map) - delimited chiefly by Namib-Naukluft NP + adjacent eastern areas - purple dots show distribution of new species (map 2) - overall 4 Acnephalomyia species in southern Namib Desert
#asiloidflies
#asiloidflies
October 31, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Fun project + 1st in a row focusing on asiloid flies from "southern Namib Desert" (in green on map) - delimited chiefly by Namib-Naukluft NP + adjacent eastern areas - purple dots show distribution of new species (map 2) - overall 4 Acnephalomyia species in southern Namib Desert
#asiloidflies
#asiloidflies
tree doesn’t like invasion (reacting by exuding a resin?) - wasps do like honeydew excreted by lanternflies
October 23, 2025 at 5:22 PM
tree doesn’t like invasion (reacting by exuding a resin?) - wasps do like honeydew excreted by lanternflies