Book excerpt: The present issue of ZooKeys comprises a series of papers honoring Prof. Kumar Krishna, the leading au-thority on the systematics and biology of termites (Isoptera). After becoming exposed to termite systematics under the tutelage of Mittan L. Roonwal in India, Kumar received his doctoral training from the legendary termite systematist and evolutionary biologist Alfred E. Emerson at the University of Chicago. Subsequently, Kumar moved to the City University of New York and the American Museum of Natural History from where, even today, he has produced some of the most important contributions to the study of termites, most notably his two-volume set, Biology of Termites (1969?1970, Academic Press), and the forthcoming monumental Treatise on the Isoptera of the World (AMNH). Herein colleagues and friends recognize his lifetime of accomplishments in biological systematics by presenting original papers on insect lineages as diverse as termites and grasshoppers, and flies and bees, among others. A brief biographical account and list of his publications to date are provided.