New additions to the fauna of the superfamily Tephritoidea (Diptera) of Morocco.

This work presents new data on six families, 23 genera and 30 species, 11 of which are new to North Africa: Campiglossa bidentis (Robineau-Devosidy, 1830), Carpomya (Goniglossum) wiedemanni (Meigen, 1826), Ceroxys hortulana (Rossi, 1790), Myennis octopunctata (Coquebert, 1798), Palloptera scutellata (Macquart, 1835), Physiphora clausa (Macquart, 1843), Platystoma lugubre (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830), Seioptera vibrans (Linnaeus, 1758), Tephritis luteipes Merz 1992, Toxoneura muliebris (Harris, 1780), and Urophora hispanica Strobl 1906. Herina gyrans (Loew, 1864), Melieria omissa (Meigen, 1826), and Stearibia nigriceps Meigen, 1826 are recorded for the first time from Morocco. Dorycera punctulata Ackerman, El Harym & Freidberg, new species (Ulidiidae), is described based on specimens from Morocco. The following synonymy is established: Platystoma meridionale Hendel, 1913 = Platystoma idia Sguy, 1934, new synonym. One species of the genus Priscoearomyia is possibly a new species to be described in forthcoming revisions of this genus.

New and confirmed records of fruit flies (Diptera, Tephritidae) from Italy.

BACKGROUND: Prior to this study, 141 species of Tephritidae were known to occur in Italy. NEW INFORMATION: Italian records of nine species of the family Tephritidae (Diptera) are provided. Five species, Eurasimonastigma (Loew, 1840), Noeetabisetosa Merz, 1992, Campiglossadoronici (Loew, 1856), Xyphosialaticauda (Meigen, 1826) and Rhagoletisberberidis Jermy, 1961 are recorded from Italy for the first time, whereas four species, Inuromaesamaura (Frauenfeld, 1857), Urophoracuspidata (Meigen, 1826), Tephritisconyzifoliae Merz, 1992 and T.mutabilis Merz, 1992, previously recorded in the Fauna Europaea database without reference to collection material, are confirmed and supplemented with host plant data and other collection data.

A new species of the genus Themarictera Hendel (Diptera: Tephritidae: Phytalmiinae: Acanthonevrini) from Madagascar.

Themarictera rinhai sp. n. is described from Madagascar. Previously Themarictera was a monotypic genus with only the species, T. flaveolata (Fabricius, 1805) having several synonyms, from continental Africa. A key for identification of both species is provided.

Revision of the Old World species of the genus Tephritis (Diptera, Tephritidae) with a pair of isolated apical spots.

Species of the genus Tephritis usually have the wing pattern with dark rays on veins R4+5 and M connected to the preapical dark spot or to each other (often called the "apical fork). Some species, however, have a solid apical crossband (Korneyev, 2013), whereas others have an isolated pair of apical spots. Specimens with the latter morphological character occasionally occur in many species with typical wing patterns, but in this article we focus on the species that normally have it. They occur mostly in the Palaearctic Region, except T. candidipennis Foote, 1960 from North America. A total of twenty species are recognized in this complex, including three new species and two new subspecies: Tephritis arsenii S. Korneyev, 2015, T. bardanae (Schrank 1803), T. conyzifoliae Merz 1992, T. crepidis Hendel 1927, T. dilacerata (Loew 1846), T. dilacerata kaszabi new subspecies, T. formosa (Loew 1844), T. ghissarica new species, T. hendeliana Hering 1944, T. hyoscyami (Linnaeus 1758), T. kyrghyzica new species, T. kogardtauica Hering 1944, T. kovalevi Korneyev Kameneva 1990, T. kovalevi kumana new subspecies; T. postica (Loew 1844), T. stictica Loew 1862, T. theryi Séguy 1930, T. tridentata S. Korneyev Mohamadzade-Namin 2013, T. truncata (Loew 1844), T. valida (Loew 1862), T. youngiana new species, and T. zernyi Hendel 1927. Most of the species are keyed, redescribed and illustrated based on extensive material from the Palaearctic Region. Lectotypes of T. dilacerata, T. formosa, T. hendeliana, T. truncata, T. valida, T. posis, T. heiseri, T. procera and a neotype for T. postica are designated. Known host plants of this complex belong to the tribes Anthemideae, Cardueae, Cichorieae, Inuleae, and Senecioneae (Asteraceae); preliminary comparison of the morphological characters (other than the wing pattern) with the distribution among host plants shows that the flies apparently do not form a monophyletic group, belonging to several different lineages, which also include other species with the typical "forked wing pattern. New distribution records and host plants are reported.        The following synonymies are established: Musca hyoscyami Linnaeus 1758 = Tephritis heiseri Frauenfeld 1865 new synonym; Trypeta postica Loew 1844 = Tephritis posis Hering 1939 new synonym.

An annotated checklist of fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) of Iran.

Based on data published before August 31, 2017 a checklist of the family Tephritidae (Diptera) includes 152 species and subspecies in 41 genera and three subfamilies. The list includes the distribution by province and the most important references on the nomenclature, existing keys, catalogues, original descriptions and redescriptions for the species recorded from Iran.

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.

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 Zurquí de Moravia, San José Province, Costa Rica (hereafter referred to as Zurquí), 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 Zurquí with those of single Malaise traps at each of Tapantí and Las Alturas, 40 and 180 km distant from Zurquí respectively, suggested significant species turnover. Comparison of the greater number of species collected in all traps from Zurquí 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 Zurquí 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.

The fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) described by Theodor Becker from Iran and Western China revisited in the collections of the Zoological Institute, Saint-Petersburg and Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin.

The type specimens of fruit flies described by Dr. Theodor Becker based on material collected in China (Xinjiang and Xizang) and Iran by Russian expeditions directed by Petr Kozlov and Mykola Zarudny are listed and figured. They are deposited in the collection of the Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint Petersburg with some duplicates in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin. Current concepts of the species, their morphological characters (illustrated by photographs of type specimens), current condition, and nomenclature are discussed.

Revision of Terellia amberboae group of species (Diptera: Tephritidae).

Terellia barughii new species from Tabriz (East Azerbaijan Province) and T. babaki new species from Qazvin Province (Iran) are described and figured, and Terellia amberboae V. Korneyev & Merz, 1996 is redescribed. A new species group is established, host plant and phylogenetic relationships are briefly discussed, and a key to species is provided.

Revision of the Genus Physiphora Fallén 1810 (Diptera: Ulidiidae: Ulidiinae).

The genus Physiphora includes at least 29 species, most of them occurring predominantly in the Afrotropical Region and a few species native to the other regions of the Old World. At least P. alceae (Preyssler 1791) and P. clausa (Macquart 1843) are subcosmopolitan species unintentionally introduced into the Australasian, Nearctic, and Neotropical Regions. Twelve new species from the Afrotropical Region are described: P. hendeli sp. n., P. igniceps sp. n., P. kirki sp. n., P. maraisi sp. n., P. meyi sp. n., P. opalizana sp. n., P. orinigra sp. n., P. polita sp. n., P. rugosa sp. n., P. spriggsi sp. n., P. steyskali sp. n., and P. virens sp. n. Detailed illustrated descriptions and a key for identification are provided for all the species of Physiphora. Analysis of the new and previously known biological data shows that larvae of most Physiphora species are saprophagous associated with rotting tissues of palms (apparently infested by the palm weevils), giant Euphorbia, and even baobabs and poplars. Some species are attracted to (and as larvae possibly can develop in) the dung of ungulates. The following synonymy is established: Physiphora clausa (Macquart 1843) = Physiphora hainanensis Chen in Chen & Kameneva 2007: 24, syn. n.; Physiphora flavipes (Karsch 1888) = Chrysomyza africana Hendel 1909, syn. n., = Cliochloria senegalensis Enderlein 1927, syn. n.

A revision of the western Palaearctic species of Urophora Robineau-Desvoidy (Diptera: Tephritidae).

Abstract A key is provided to twenty-four western Palaearctic species of Urophora Robineau-Desvoidy. The hosts of twenty-three species which attack Asteraceae are listed, including those being used or investigated as possible weed biocontrol agents. The species are divided into four species groups and the differing host relationships and types of galls induced by these groups are discussed. U.lopholomae sp.n. and U.affinis ssp. calcitrapae ssp.n., associated with Centaurea (Lopholoma) spp. and C. (Calcitrapa) spp. respectively, are described. U. algerica (Hering) and U.sjumorum (Rohdendorf) are both treated as subspecies of U. quadrifasciata (Meigen). U.pontica is given full specific status and U.hispanica is removed from synonymy. The following new synonymies are made (junior synonyms in parentheses): U. angustifascia (Hering) (=Euribia phaeocera Hering); U. cardui (Linnaeus) (=U. reaumurii Robineau-Desvoidy, lectotype designated); U. jaceana (Hering) (=E.conyzae Hering); U.maura (Frauenfeld) (=E. tecta Hering); U. mauritanica Macquart (=U. lejura Rondani, Trypeta macrura Loew); U.solstitialis (Linnaeus) (=E.sonderupi Hering, U. veruata Rondani); U.stylata (Fabricius) (=E.pia Hering, U. vulcaanica Rondani); U. terebrans (Loew) (=E. approximata Hering, T. eriolepidis Loew, E. manni Hendel). The possibility that U. quadrifasciata is a species complex is discussed; it is also suggested that U.affinis and U.jaceana represent the morphological extremes of a complex. The misuse of the name Musca stylata Fabricius in the genus Myopites Blot is noted.