David Eduard van Dijk (14 September 1925 – 6 March 2023) was a South African herpetologist, paleontologist and the author of a number of biology textbooks.
Species named for him include the frog, Amietia vandijki (Van Dijk's river frog) (Visser & Channing)., first known only as tadpoles; the fossil plant bug, Australoprosoboloides vandijki (Riek); the plant fossil, "Estcourtia vandijki" (Anderson & Anderson) and the genus Vandijkophrynus (Van Dijk's toads)
Van Dijk published in a number of fields including Zoology, Geology, Ichnology and Paleontology over a more than 65 year academic career, with the first, his M.Sc thesis in 1955 and lastly, the publication of an article on Ichnology in 2021.
He compiled bibliographies on African Anura (Frogs and Toads), African Tadpoles, African Fossil Frogs, and African Vertebrate Ichnology (Tracks and other Trace Fossils).
Van Dijk died on 6 March 2023, at the age of 97.
Education and career Van Dijk attended school in Johannesburg and studied at the University of Witwatersrand and Johannesburg Teachers' Training College on a Transvaal Education Department Loan Bursary. He then went to Stellenbosch University where he obtained an MSc in 1953 and DSc in 1959. Somewhat more than a decade after his retirement, he undertook a second MSc (Palaeontology) at Stellenbosch University. This was awarded in 2000.
While repaying his Loan Bursary, he was a technician in the Bacteriology Laboratory of the South African Institute for Medical Research. Thereafter he lectured in the Zoology Department, University of Natal for approximately 30 years.
Awards and honours British Association Medal (Silver) (1955) Junior Captain Scott Medal for Biology (1956)South African Journal of Science, December 1956 (Pg 166). Senior Captain Scott Medal for Biology (2010)
Selected publications van Dijk, D.E. (1955). The "Tail" of Ascaphus. (M.Sc Thesis)
van Dijk, D.E., Eriksson, Patrick G. (2021). Bipedal leaping Jurassic vertebrates in Southern Africa: proposed new ichnotaxon and inferred palaeoenvironment. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 10.1080/0035919X.2021.1964104.
Books
Notes Austroprosboloides vandijki – “Derivation. This fine species is named for Dr D. E. van Dijk, Zoology Department, Natal University at Pietermaritzburg, and Honorary Keeper of Invertebrate Palaeontology, Natal Museum, who, together with his family, collected this and several other species from the Upper Permian near the Mooi River.” "Vandijkophrynus new genus (type species: Bufo angusticeps Smith, 1848; etymology: E. Van Dijk + Greek: phrynos [toad], commemorating Eddie Van Dijk, noted South African herpetologist and indefatigable tadpole specialist)." - "Eddie Van Dijk (b.1925) is a noted South African herpetologist and indefatigable tadpole specialist. He studied at the University of Witwatersrand and Johannesburg Teachers’ Training College, then at Stellenbosch University where he obtained his master’s (1953) and doctorate (1959). Many years later he undertook a second master’s degree in palaeontology at the Stellenbosch University (2000). While studying he worked as a technician in the Bacteriology Laboratory of the South African Institute for Medical Research, and there after lectured in the Zoology Department, University of Natal for about 30 years. He compiled bibliographies on African Anurans, African tadpoles, African fossil frogs, and African vertebrate ichnology (tracks and other trace fossils). He has written a number of textbooks including Introduction to Modern Biology (1970) and Senior Secondary Biology 9 (1988). He is also commemorated in the names of a fossil plant bug, Australoprosoboloides vandijki."
References Visser, J. and A. Channing. (1997). A new species of river frog from the Swartberg, South Africa (Ranidae: Afrana). Journal of African Zoology 111: 191–198. South African Journal of Science (December 1956). "Annual General Meeting of the South African Biological Society", South African Journal of Science, December 1956 (Pg 166). Southern African Association for the Advancement of Science. "List of award winners: British Association Medal (Silver)", http://s2a3.org.za/joomla/index.php/awards/british-association-medal-silver
External links ResearchGate