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

Peer reviewe

Taxonomy based on science is necessary for global conservation

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

Fauna Europaea: Diptera -Brachycera

Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Pape, T., Beuk, P., Pont, A. C., Shatalkin, A. I., Ozerov, A. L., Woźnica, A. J., ... de Jong, Y. (2015). Fauna Europaea: 3, [e4187]. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.3.e4187 General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. Abstract Fauna Europaea provides a public web-service with an index of scientific names (including important synonyms) of all extant multicellular European terrestrial and freshwater animals and their geographical distribution at the level of countries and major islands (east of the Urals and excluding the Caucasus region). The Fauna Europaea project comprises about 230,000 taxonomic names, including 130,000 accepted species and 14,000 accepted subspecies, which is much more than the originally projected number of 100,000 species. Fauna Europaea represents a huge effort by more than 400 contributing taxonomic specialists throughout Europe and is a unique (standard) reference suitable for many user communities in science, government, industry, nature conservation and education. The Diptera-Brachycera is one of the 58 Fauna Europaea major taxonomic groups, and data have been compiled by a network of 55 specialists. Within the two-winged insects (Diptera), the Brachycera constitute a monophyletic group, which is generally given rank of suborder. The Brachycera may be classified into the probably paraphyletic 'lower brachyceran grade' and the monophyletic Eremoneura. The latter contains the Empidoidea, the Apystomyioidea with a single Nearctic species, and the Cyclorrhapha, which in turn is divided into the paraphyletic 'aschizan grade' and the monophyletic Schizophora. The latter is traditionally divided into the paraphyletic 'acalyptrate grade' and the monophyletic Calyptratae. Our knowledge of the European fauna of Diptera-Brachycera varies tremendously among families, from the reasonably well known hoverflies (Syrphidae) to the extremely poorly known scuttle flies (Phoridae). There has been a steady growth in our knowledge of European Diptera for the last two centuries, with no apparent slow down, but there is a shift towards a larger fraction of the new species being found among the families of the nematoceran grade (lower Diptera), which due to a larger number of small-sized species may be considered as taxonomically more challenging. Most of Europe is highly industrialised and has a high human population density, and the more fertile habitats are extensively cultivated. This has undoubtedly increased the extinction risk for numerous species of brachyceran flies, yet with the recent re-discovery of Thyreophora cynophila (Panzer), there are no known cases of extinction at a European level. However, few national Red Lists have extensive information on Diptera. For the Diptera-Brachycera, data from 96 families containing 11,751 species are included in this paper

Figures 21-22 from: Gaimari S (2017) The dipteran family Celyphidae in the New World, with discussion of and key to world genera (Insecta, Diptera). ZooKeys 711: 113-130. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.711.20840

The family Celyphidae (Diptera, Lauxanioidea) is verified as part of the New World fauna, with a second specimen discovered of a species described from French Guiana in 1844 by P.J.M. Macquart. As this species possesses characteristics that clearly suggest a separate lineage from the Old World celyphids, a new genus is proposed, Atopocelyphus gen. n., with the type species, Celyphus ruficollis Macquart, in the new combination Atopocelyphus ruficollis (Macquart), comb. n. A key to world genera of Celyphidae is presented, along with discussion of generic concepts. Chamaecelyphus Frey is synonymized under Spaniocelyphus Hendel, syn. n., resulting in the following 10 new combinations: Spaniocelyphus africanus (Walker), comb. n.; S. dichrous (Bezzi), comb. n.; S. gutta (Speiser), comb. n.; S. halticinus (Frey), comb. n.; S. kalongensis (Vanschuytbroek), comb. n.; S. ruwenzoriensis (Vanschuytbroek), comb. n.; S. straeleni (Vanschuytbroek), comb. n.; S. upembaensis (Vanschuytbroek), comb. n.; S. violaceus (Vanschuytbroek), comb. n.; S. vrydaghi (Vanschuytbroek), comb. n. The subgenera of Celyphus Dalman are elevated to genus rank, as Paracelyphus Bigot, stat. rev., and Hemiglobus Frey, stat. rev., resulting in the following 17 new and revised combinations: Hemiglobus cheni (Shi), comb. n.; H. eos (Frey), comb. n.; H. lacunosus Frey, comb. rev.; H. pellucidus Frey, comb. rev.; H. planitarsalis (Shi), comb. n.; H. porosus (Tenorio), comb. n.; H. pulchmaculatus (Liu & Yang), comb. n.; H. quadrimaculatus (Tenorio), comb. n.; H. resplendens Frey, comb. rev.; H. rugosus (Tenorio), comb. n.; H. testaceus (Malloch), comb. n.; H. trichoporis (Shi), comb. n.; H. unicolor Frey, comb. rev.; H. violaceus Chen, comb. rev.; Paracelyphus hyacinthus Bigot, comb. rev.; P. medogis (Shi), comb. n.; P. vittalis (Shi), comb. n

Ortalidina apaxa Cogan, comb. nov.

<i>Ortalidina apaxa</i> (Cogan), comb. nov. <p> <i>Toropamecia apaxa</i> Cogan 1978: 235. Chile. Tarapaca: Azapa. HT 3 (Fig. 12), CNC.</p>Published as part of <i>Gaimari, Stephen D., 2012, A new genus and species of Chamaemyiidae (Diptera: Lauxanioidea) from South America feeding on Ceroplastes wax scales (Hemiptera: Coccidae), and status of the genus Ortalidina as a chamaemyiid, pp. 39-50 in Zootaxa 3342</i> on page 44, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/211348">10.5281/zenodo.211348</a&gt

Ortalidina reticulata Johnson, comb. nov.

<i>Ortalidina reticulata</i> (Johnson), comb. nov. <p> <i>Trigonometopus reticulatus</i> Johnson 1913: 81. USA. Florida: Crescent City. HT Ƥ (Fig. 25), MCZ. Sturtevant 1923: 4 (as junior synonym of <i>Acrometopia punctata</i>); McAlpine 1965: 707 (as junior synonym of <i>Acrometopia punctata</i>).</p> <p> <i>Acrometopia reticulata</i> (Johnson) (comb. Sturtevant 1923: 4). Steyskal 1972: 302 (revised status as valid, in key).</p> <p> <i>Toropamecia reticulata</i> (Johnson) (comb. Cogan 1978: 232). Tanasijtshuk 1992: 214 /81 (figs., 3 genitalia).</p>Published as part of <i>Gaimari, Stephen D., 2012, A new genus and species of Chamaemyiidae (Diptera: Lauxanioidea) from South America feeding on Ceroplastes wax scales (Hemiptera: Coccidae), and status of the genus Ortalidina as a chamaemyiid, pp. 39-50 in Zootaxa 3342</i> on page 49, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/211348">10.5281/zenodo.211348</a&gt

Ortalidina macalpinei Cogan, comb. nov.

Ortalidina macalpinei (Cogan), comb. nov. Toropamecia macalpinei Cogan 1978: 236. Chile. Malleco: Liucara. HT 3 (Fig. 19), CNC.Published as part of Gaimari, Stephen D., 2012, A new genus and species of Chamaemyiidae (Diptera: Lauxanioidea) from South America feeding on Ceroplastes wax scales (Hemiptera: Coccidae), and status of the genus Ortalidina as a chamaemyiid, pp. 39-50 in Zootaxa 3342 on page 46, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21134

Ortalidina Blanchard

<i>Ortalidina</i> Blanchard <p> <i>Ortalidina</i> Blanchard 1852: 455. Type species, <i>Ortalidina cellularis</i> Blanchard, by monotypy. Steyskal, 1968: 23 (catalog, as unplaced genus); Gaimari 2010: 1004 (in key).</p> <p> <i>Toropamecia</i> Cogan 1978: 230, <b>syn. nov.</b> Type species, <i>Acrometopia punctata</i> Coquillett, by original designation. Tanasijtshuk 1986: 55 (distribution), 1992: 207/74 (in key), 214/82 (diagnosis), 2003: 168 (distribution), 170 (in cladogram).</p> <p> <i>Remarks</i>. The genus <i>Ortalidina</i> Blanchard was considered part of the Ortalidae (= Ulidiidae) when originally described, likely based on the strongly pictured wing of the type species, although Blanchard (1852) did acknowledge that this genus was somewhat different from most ortalids. Some confusion about the included species within the genus was introduced by Steyskal (1968), which has been perpetuated in various online scientific-name resources. In the South American catalog of Otitidae, Steyskal (1968) had a section on “Unplaced genera and species”, wherein <i>Dorycera conspersa</i> Walker is listed first, followed by the genus <i>Ortalidina</i> (represented as a heading) with the species <i>cellularis</i> below it, then followed by seven additional species (<i>Ortalis decorata</i> Blanchard, <i>Ortalis ochraspis</i> Wiedemann, <i>Ortalis picta</i> Blanchard, <i>Ortalis striolata</i> Blanchard, <i>Ulidia fulvifrons</i> Bigot, <i>Ulidia metallica</i> Bigot, and <i>Urophora antillarum</i> Macquart). Having <i>Ortalidina</i> appear as a heading had evidently confused some databasers to include the seven additional species as members of this genus. However, this would be contrary to their being in the “unplaced” category, and in the index they are listed as “unrecognized”. Additionally, Steyskal (1968) suggested that <i>Ortalidina cellularis</i> may be the same species as <i>Acrometopia australis</i> Malloch. Although he did make the very astute connection of their being congeneric, they are not synonyms. Although the genus is under revision by me with several recognized new species, the key of Cogan (1978) and the wing photographs and various illustrations therein, as well as the photographs of primary types provided here, work to delimit the described species (with the exception that <i>Ortalidina cellularis</i> keys out to its synonymic species <i>Toropamecia grossa</i> Cogan).</p> <p> Interestingly, the spelling Ortalidina was used by Rondani (1856) as a family-group name based upon Fallén’s (1810) name Ortalides (based on his genus <i>Ortalis</i>); this name is currently a junior synonym of Ulidiidae (Ulidiinae: Seipterini) (Kamaneva & Korneyev 2006).</p> <p> Following is a list of species currently recognized in the genus <i>Ortalidina</i>, including all new combinations and a new synonymy.</p>Published as part of <i>Gaimari, Stephen D., 2012, A new genus and species of Chamaemyiidae (Diptera: Lauxanioidea) from South America feeding on Ceroplastes wax scales (Hemiptera: Coccidae), and status of the genus Ortalidina as a chamaemyiid, pp. 39-50 in Zootaxa 3342</i> on page 44, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/211348">10.5281/zenodo.211348</a&gt