The BioSystematic Database of World Diptera is approximately 50% of its way toward the ultimate goal of having an authorative species database and information portal for flies. Of the three main components, the nomenclator is about 90% done, the references data file about 50% completed, and nothing beyond the planning done for the species database and portal. We have, however, produced a number of products, which we feel are useful to the community today.

We currently estimate that there are more than 160,000 species of flies described, for which there are more than 300,000 names. The nomenclator contains about a quarter of million name records today representing some 150,000 species. We estimate that there are over 30,000 works that document these names, but only 21,122 are now in our reference file. For specific details by biotic regions and families (exclusive of fossil flies), see our tables and version report. For more information about the current status of the BDWD see our Annual Report for 2005. Our earlier 2004 Annual Report is also still available.

With the interim release (6.5) of the Nomenclator, the BioSystematic Database of World Diptera has reached its first major milestone: the completion of Basic Data Entry from secondardy sources (level 1, see our QAS page). The current version (8.5) was placed online in July 2006 and includes 238,435 species names, 22,579 genus names and 4,632 family names.

All the names from the various regional Diptera catalogs have been entered into our master data files. All the new names from the Zoological Record for the years starting with 1978 (115) to 2005 (141) have also been entered. In a few cases, more recent catalogs to particular families were used instead of the treatments in the regional Diptera catalogs. Finally, for the unpublished fascicles of the Neotropical Diptera catalog (Papavero, et alia), we have used the card files of the Systematic Entomology Laboratory. For genus-group names, all the names in Neave's Nomenclator Zoologica have been entered. Sherborn's Index Animalium (to 1800) has also been checked. Duplicates as discovered have been removed.

The next steps in our data entry and revision plan are as follows.

For Basic Data Entry work, the names in Sherborn's Index Animalium (to 1850) will be checked against our master files and uniques added (level 1). Special funding to make a digital version of Sherborn for this work has been given to the Smithsonian.

We have now begun the next major step, Preliminary Data Review (level 2). As part of this process, references are being added and linked to the appropriate name record. Already some 21,000 references have been added, and some 42,000 name records linked to them. This process has now been finished for 66 of the 153 currently recognized families. Work will continue on completing the reference database by taking citations from the regional Diptera catalogs and the Zoological Record.

Moving beyond the Preliminary Data Review level will continue to follow two different tracks: geographic and taxonomic. For the geographic approach, the Nearctic Region will be of the highest priority as it represents the old published data set (1965). For the taxonomic approach, families will be revised based on our priorities and opportunities offered to us by collaborators. Collaborators willing to meet our standards with a precise schedule of production will be given the highest priority (for example, the Therevidae (Irwin PEET project), Acroceridae (Schlinger), Syrphidae (guess who?). Otherwise, we will focus the resources of the BDWD to a number of families of broad interest to the general community, like the medical important ones (mosquitoes (Culicidae), black flies (Simuliidae), sand flies (Phlebotominae), bot flies (Oestridae)), experimental/genetics (Drosophilidae); and environmental quality-indicator groups (Chironomidae).

The genus-group names will be handled separately from taxonomic or geographic treatments. They will be treated in their own catalog following a format similar to that used for the family-group names (Sabrosky 1999).

Independently, our BDWD tool set will continue to be expanded. This includes databases of authors, collections, places (current political units as well as historical gazetteer) and serials.