A new species of Dasyhelea (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), mining the leaves of the floating fern Salvinia minima Baker.

A newly described species, Dasyhelea mesophylla Dominiak and Borkent, from Costa Rica is the first species in this large and diverse family known to be a leaf-miner. The species is described as third and fourth instar larvae, pupa, and male and female adults. The biology of larvae mining the floating leaves of Salvinia minima Baker is also described. The pupa has a distinctive, sharply pointed respiratory organ, shared with some other species of Dasyhelea, which pierces the surface of the leaf to breathe. The species belongs in the grisea group and its close relatives within that group are noted

A new species and first record of the subgenus Forcipomyia (Schizoforcipomyia) Chan & LeRoux from the Neotropical Region (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

The biting midge, Forcipomyia (Schizoforcipomyia) harpa n. sp., is described from adult males and females which are apparently restricted to high elevations in the Talamanca Mountains of Costa Rica. The new species represents the first record of the subgenus from the Neotropical Region. Thirteen species of Forcipomyia (Schizoforcipomyia) are now known worldwide.Sobre la base de adultos machos y hembras se describe a Forcipomyia (Schizoforcipomyia) harpa n. sp., de Costa Rica, la cual se halla restringida a altas elevaciones en las montañas de Talamanca. Esta nueva especie representa el primer registro del subgénero para la Región Neotropical. Trece especies de Forcipomyia (Schizoforcipomyia) se conocen ahora para todo el Mundo.Fil: Spinelli, Gustavo Ricardo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Limnología "Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Limnología; ArgentinaFil: Borkent, Art. American Museum Of Natural History; Estados Unido

An Update and Errata for the Catalog of the Biting Midges of the World (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae)

A list of corrections as well as the addition of new taxa described since Borkent & Dominiak (2020) published a catalog of the Ceratopogonidae of the world is provided. We record a further 70 extant and 7 fossil species and 2 new fossil genera. Beyond the summary provided by Borkent & Dominiak (2020, Table 1), the family now includes 6276 extant and 303 fossil species and 23 fossil genera. The number of species names that are nomina dubia is now 181

Floral biology and pollination strategy of seven Tacca species (Taccaceae)

We investigated the floral characteristics, floral biology and floral visitors of the six Bornean Tacca species: T. bibracteata (only floral characteristics), T. borneensis, T. havilandii, T. leontopetaloides, T. palmata and T. reducta, and T. cristata from Peninsular Malaysia. All species are protogynous with pollen strings extruded post flower opening. Blooming of all species started from dawn except for T. leontopetaloides which flowered from dusk. While T. borneensis, T. cristata, T. havilandii, T. leontopetaloides and T. reducta are facultatively autogamic as the pollen/ovule ratios (P/O ratios) were low, T. bibracteata is facultatively xenogamic as its P/O ratio was higher. Four species (T. borneensis, T. cristata, T. havilandii and T. reducta) were tested for autonomous self-pollination but all failed to set fruit. Manual self- and cross-pollination treatments of T. borneensis, T. cristata and T. havilandii showed reduced fruit set and seed set. In contrast, T. reducta was highly self-compatible. The showy bracts and bracteoles of T. borneensis are needed to guarantee pollination success but is not so in the other species investigated. Tacca are pollinated by two pollination guilds of female midges: two species of Forcipomyia (Lasiohelea) and Culicoides hinnoi. The floral biology and mating system of Tacca species indicate that most fruits and seeds were produced in samples resulting from natural pollination

The previously unknown pupa and adult male of Neobezzia fittkaui wirth & Ratanaworabhan (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae)

The previously unknown pupa and adult male of Neobezzia fittkaui Wirth & Ratanaworabhan (Diptera, Ceratopogonidae). The pupa of Neobezzia fittkaui Wirth & Ratanaworabhan, 1972, collected from a mat of floating fern (Salvinia auriculata Aubl., Salviniaceae) in Ilha da Marchantaria near Manaus, Brazil and the reared adult male are described, photographed and illustrated for the first time. This is the first detailed pupal description for the genus Neobezzia Wirth & Ratanaworabhan.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo (FCNM

Remarkable fly (Diptera) diversity in a patch of Costa Rican cloud forest : Why inventory is a vital science

Study of all flies (Diptera) collected for one year from a four-hectare (150 x 266 meter) patch of cloud forest at 1,600 meters above sea level at Zurqui de Moravia, San Jose Province, Costa Rica (hereafter referred to as Zurqui), revealed an astounding 4,332 species. This amounts to more than half the number of named species of flies for all of Central America. Specimens were collected with two Malaise traps running continuously and with a wide array of supplementary collecting methods for three days of each month. All morphospecies from all 73 families recorded were fully curated by technicians before submission to an international team of 59 taxonomic experts for identification. Overall, a Malaise trap on the forest edge captured 1,988 species or 51% of all collected dipteran taxa (other than of Phoridae, subsampled only from this and one other Malaise trap). A Malaise trap in the forest sampled 906 species. Of other sampling methods, the combination of four other Malaise traps and an intercept trap, aerial/hand collecting, 10 emergence traps, and four CDC light traps added the greatest number of species to our inventory. This complement of sampling methods was an effective combination for retrieving substantial numbers of species of Diptera. Comparison of select sampling methods (considering 3,487 species of non-phorid Diptera) provided further details regarding how many species were sampled by various methods. Comparison of species numbers from each of two permanent Malaise traps from Zurqui with those of single Malaise traps at each of Tapanti and Las Alturas, 40 and 180 km distant from Zurqui respectively, suggested significant species turnover. Comparison of the greater number of species collected in all traps from Zurqui did not markedly change the degree of similarity between the three sites, although the actual number of species shared did increase. Comparisons of the total number of named and unnamed species of Diptera from four hectares at Zurqui is equivalent to 51% of all flies named from Central America, greater than all the named fly fauna of Colombia, equivalent to 14% of named Neotropical species and equal to about 2.7% of all named Diptera worldwide. Clearly the number of species of Diptera in tropical regions has been severely underestimated and the actual number may surpass the number of species of Coleoptera. Various published extrapolations from limited data to estimate total numbers of species of larger taxonomic categories (e.g., Hexapoda, Arthropoda, Eukaryota, etc.) are highly questionable, and certainly will remain uncertain until we have more exhaustive surveys of all and diverse taxa (like Diptera) from multiple tropical sites. Morphological characterization of species in inventories provides identifications placed in the context of taxonomy, phylogeny, form, and ecology. DNA barcoding species is a valuable tool to estimate species numbers but used alone fails to provide a broader context for the species identified.Peer reviewe

Comprehensive inventory of true flies (Diptera) at a tropical site

Estimations of tropical insect diversity generally suffer from lack of known groups or faunas against which extrapolations can be made, and have seriously underestimated the diversity of some taxa. Here we report the intensive inventory of a four-hectare tropical cloud forest in Costa Rica for one year, which yielded 4332 species of Diptera, providing the first verifiable basis for diversity of a major group of insects at a single site in the tropics. In total 73 families were present, all of which were studied to the species level, providing potentially complete coverage of all families of the order likely to be present at the site. Even so, extrapolations based on our data indicate that with further sampling, the actual total for the site could be closer to 8000 species. Efforts to completely sample a site, although resource-intensive and time-consuming, are needed to better ground estimations of world biodiversity based on limited sampling