NOMENCLATURAL NOTES ON NEARCTIC <i>EUPEODES</i> (INCLUDING <i>METASYRPHUS</i>) AND <i>DASYSYRPHUS</i> (DIPTERA: SYRPHIDAE)

AbstractThe generic name Metasyrphus Matsumura is synonymized with Eupeodes Osten Sacken. Thirteen new combinations are proposed in Eupeodes. Fourteen new synonyms are noted in the genera Eupeodes and Dasysyrphus and 9 lectotypes are designated. Notes on unrecognized species in both genera are given.</jats:p

REVISION OF THE NEW WORLD SPECIES OF <i>PARAGUS</i> LATREILLE (DIPTERA: SYRPHIDAE)

AbstractA revision of the New World species of Paragus is presented. Seven Nearctic species (6 new) of the subgenus Paragus and 1 Holarctic species of the subgenus Pandasyopthalmus are recognized. Figures of the male terminalia and a distribution map are given for each species.</jats:p

REVISION OF THE NEARCTIC SPECIES OF <i>PLATYCHEIRUS</i> (DIPTERA, SYRPHIDAE)

AbstractThe 70 species of Platycheirus (including Carposcalis, Pyrophaena, and much of Melanostoma of North American authors) occurring in the Nearctic Region north of Mexico are revised. Twenty-three species are described as new and new names are proposed for two species. Eighteen new synonyms and 14 new combinations are proposed; one variety name is given specific status. Six palaearctic species are recorded from North America for the first time, and one nearctic species from Europe, for a total of 23 holarctic species.</jats:p

Sensitivity analysis, molecular systematics and natural history evolution of Scathophagidae (Diptera: Cyclorrhapha: Calyptratae)

The 60 000 described species of Cyclorrhapha are characterized by an unusual diversity in larval life-history traits, which range from saprophagy over phytophagy to parasitism and predation. However, the direction of evolutionary change between the different modes remains unclear. Here, we use the Scathophagidae (Diptera) for reconstructing the direction of change in this relatively small family ( 250 spp.) whose larval habits mirror the diversity in natural history found in Cyclorrhapha. We subjected a molecular data set for 63 species (22 genera) and DNA sequences from seven genes (12S, 16S, Cytb, COI, 28S, Ef1-alfa, Pol II) to an extensive sensitivity analysis and compare the performance of three different alignment strategies (manual, Clustal, POY). We find that the default Clustal alignment performs worst as judged by character incongruence, topological congruence and branch support. For this alignment, scoring indels as a fifth character state worsens character incongruence and topological congruence. However, manual alignment and direct optimization perform similarly well and yield near-identical trees, although branch support is lower for the direct-optimization trees. All three alignment techniques favor the upweighting of transversion. We furthermore confirm the independence of the concepts ‘‘node support’’ and ‘‘node stability’’ by documenting several cases of poorly supported nodes being very stable and cases of well supported nodes being unstable. We confirm the monophyly of the Scathophagidae, its two constituent subfamilies, and most genera. We demonstrate that phytophagy in the form of leaf mining is the ancestral larval feeding habit for Scathophagidae. From phytophagy, two shifts to saprophagy and one shift to predation has occurred while a second origin of predation is from a saprophagous ancestor