Biological explorations of Sinai: flora and fauna of Wadi Isla and Hebran, St Katherine Protectorate, Egypt

A comprehensive survey was accomplished for two of the most important and beautiful wadis in the Sinai, Wadi Isla & Hebran. The biodiversity of the two wadis are surveyed including plant species and their associated insects, spiders and scorpions. The list includes 20 plant families with 51 species, 8 insect orders with 54 families and 138 species, and 4 arachnid orders with 17 families and 23 species. The highest number of species recorded were Coleoptera and Hymenoptera.Keywords: Biodiversity, checklist, plants, insects, spider

Catalog of the Calliphoridae, Rhiniidae, and Sarcophagidae of Egypt (Diptera: Oestroidea)

Abstract Oestroidea is a diverse superfamily of flies with a variety of feeding habits, mostly saprophages (e.g., majority of species of the genus Sarcophaga, Sarcophagidae), internal parasites of mammals (e.g., Oestridae), parasitoids (e.g., the genus Blaesoxipha, Sarcophagidae; the genus Pollenia, Calliphoridae), and predators (e.g., the genus Stomorhina, Rhiniidae). In the present study, an updated catalog of the superfamily Oestroidea recorded from Egypt is presented. The catalog covers the following families: Calliphoridae, Rhiniidae, and Sarcophagidae. A total of 126 oestroid species belonging to 31 genera, 7 subfamilies, and 3 families are treated. The treated families are Calliphoridae (8 species representing 5 genera), Rhiniidae (10 species representing 3 genera), and Sarcophagidae (108 species representing 23 genera). Synonymies, type localities, world distributions by biogeographic realm(s) and country, Egyptian localities, and dates of collection for all treated species are provided

The family Bombyliidae in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Diptera: Brachycera: Asiloidea)

El-Hawagry, Magdi S., Al Dhafer, Hathal M. (2019): The family Bombyliidae in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Diptera: Brachycera: Asiloidea). Zootaxa 4590 (1): 59-94, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4590.1.

Catalogue of the Egyptian Ephydroidea (Diptera: Schizophora: Acalyptratae)

El-Hawagry, Magdi S., Zatwarnicki, Tadeusz, Ebrahim, Ayman M. (2018): Catalogue of the Egyptian Ephydroidea (Diptera: Schizophora: Acalyptratae). Zootaxa 4444 (3): 201-246, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4444.3.

Phthiria sharafi sp. nov., a new record of the subfamily Phthiriinae (Bombyliidae, Diptera) from Saudi Arabia

El-Hawagry, Magdi S., Al Dhafer, Hathal M. (2014): Phthiria sharafi sp. nov., a new record of the subfamily Phthiriinae (Bombyliidae, Diptera) from Saudi Arabia. Zootaxa 3872 (4): 387-392, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3872.4.

FIGURES 2 – 5 in Phthiria sharafi sp. nov., a new record of the subfamily Phthiriinae (Bombyliidae, Diptera) from Saudi Arabia

FIGURES 2 – 5. Phthiria sharafi sp. nov.: 2. holotype male habitus, lateral view; 3. same, head, frontal view; 4. paratype female habitus, lateral view; 5. same, dorsal view

Effects of Climatic Change on Potential Distribution of Spogostylum ocyale (Diptera: Bombyliidae) in the Middle East Using Maxent Modelling

Spogostylum ocyale (Wiedemann 1828) is a large robust species of bee fly (family Bombyliidae), known to be a larval ectoparasitoid as well as an important flower pollinator as an adult. This species has become extremely rare or has disappeared from many of its historic habitats due to substantial changes in floral and faunal compositions in recent years. Climate change and urbanisation, together with other anthropogenic activities, may be to blame for these changes. Distribution modelling based on environmental variables together with known occurrences is a powerful tool in analytical biology, with applications in ecology, evolution, conservation management, epidemiology and other fields. Based on climatological and topographic data, the current and future distributions of the parasitoid in the Middle East region was predicted using the maximum entropy model (Maxent). The model performance was satisfactory (AUC mean = 0.834; TSS mean = 0.606) and revealed a good potential distribution for S. ocyale featured by the selected factors. A set of seven predictors was chosen from 19 bioclimatic variables and one topographic variable. The results show that the distribution of S. ocyale is mainly affected by the maximum temperature of the warmest period (Bio5) and temperature annual range (Bio7). According to the habitat suitability map, coastal regions with warm summers and cold winters had high to medium suitability. However, future scenarios predict a progressive decline in the extent of suitable habitats with global climate warming. These findings lead to robust conservation management measures in current or future conservation planning

On the taxonomy of the genus Thyridanthrax Osten Sacken in Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with description of a new species (Diptera: Bombyliidae)

El-Hawagry, Magdi S., Abdel-Dayem, Mahmoud S., Al Dhafer, Hathal M. (2019): On the taxonomy of the genus Thyridanthrax Osten Sacken in Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with description of a new species (Diptera: Bombyliidae). Zootaxa 4701 (6): 501-519, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4701.6.

Effects of Climatic Change on Potential Distribution of <i>Spogostylum ocyale</i> (Diptera: Bombyliidae) in the Middle East Using Maxent Modelling

Spogostylum ocyale (Wiedemann 1828) is a large robust species of bee fly (family Bombyliidae), known to be a larval ectoparasitoid as well as an important flower pollinator as an adult. This species has become extremely rare or has disappeared from many of its historic habitats due to substantial changes in floral and faunal compositions in recent years. Climate change and urbanisation, together with other anthropogenic activities, may be to blame for these changes. Distribution modelling based on environmental variables together with known occurrences is a powerful tool in analytical biology, with applications in ecology, evolution, conservation management, epidemiology and other fields. Based on climatological and topographic data, the current and future distributions of the parasitoid in the Middle East region was predicted using the maximum entropy model (Maxent). The model performance was satisfactory (AUC mean = 0.834; TSS mean = 0.606) and revealed a good potential distribution for S. ocyale featured by the selected factors. A set of seven predictors was chosen from 19 bioclimatic variables and one topographic variable. The results show that the distribution of S. ocyale is mainly affected by the maximum temperature of the warmest period (Bio5) and temperature annual range (Bio7). According to the habitat suitability map, coastal regions with warm summers and cold winters had high to medium suitability. However, future scenarios predict a progressive decline in the extent of suitable habitats with global climate warming. These findings lead to robust conservation management measures in current or future conservation planning