Odors Attracting the Long-Legged Predator Medetera signaticornis Loew to Ips typographus L. Infested Norway Spruce Trees.

Predatory long-legged flies of the genus Medetera are important, but currently understudied, natural enemies of Scolytinae bark beetles such as Ips typographus. Medetera flies lay eggs on beetle-infested trees, where the developing larvae find their prey, but the chemical cues used by Medetera to locate infested trees are currently unknown. To identify odors attracting Medetera signaticornis, a species in Europe, headspace samples were collected at several time-points through different stages of I. typographus attacks on logs of Norway spruce (Picea abies). The headspace samples were analyzed using combined gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and gas chromatography coupled with electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) to determine compounds that stimulate M. signaticornis antennae. Antennae of M. signaticornis males and females were found to detect (-)-cis-verbenol, ( +)-trans-verbenol and myrtenol, which are known to be produced by bark beetles. Antennal responses were also observed for verbenene, isoterpinolene, α-pinene oxide, camphor, pinocamphone, terpinene-4-ol, myrtenal, borneol, α-terpineol, geranyl acetone, and verbenone, which are primarily produced by microorganisms, and α-pinene, α-fenchene, ß-pinene, camphene, 3-carene, limonene, γ-terpinene, and terpinolene, known spruce tree compounds. In field experiments testing two synthetic blends containing 18 antennal active and two additional compounds 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol and ipsdienol we observed significant attraction of M. signaticornis within 24 h. These attractive blends can form the basis for development of Medetera monitoring lures for use in future forest and pest management.

The genus Medetera (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) in the Czech Republic with first records of twelve species.

The faunistics of long-legged flies of the genus Medetera Fischer von Waldheim, 1819 in the Czech Republic (further subdivided into Bohemia and Moravia) are investigated. A total of 61 species are listed, new records of 34 species presented and numerous previously published records discussed. Twelve species are recorded from the Czech Republic for the first time: Medetera acanthura Negrobov & Thuneberg, 1970, M. belgica Parent, 1936, M. betulae Ringdahl, 1949, M. brevitarsa Parent, 1927, M. freyi Thuneberg, 1955, M. incrassata Frey, 1909, M. inspissata Collin, 1952, M. kerzhneri Negrobov, 1966, M. parenti Stackelberg, 1925, M. prjachinae Negrobov, 1974, M. pseudoapicalis Thuneberg, 1955, and M. unisetosa Collin, 1941. Six other species are recorded from Bohemia for the first time: Medetera annulitarsus von Roser, 1840, M. feminina Negrobov, 1967, M. insignis Girschner, 1888, M. jugalis Collin, 1941, M. muralis Meigen, 1824, and M. lorea Negrobov, 1967; and six species from Moravia for the first time: Medetera ambigua (Zetterstedt, 1843), M. caeruleifacies Naglis & Negrobov, 2014, M. excellens Frey, 1909, M. infumata Loew, 1857, M. melancholica Lundbeck, 1912, and M. seguyi Parent, 1926.

Antennal and maxillary palp morphology, and sensillar equipment, of the spruce bark beetle predators, Medetera signaticornis and Medetera infumata (Diptera: Dolichopodidae).

Many long-legged Medetera flies are natural enemies of bark beetle pests, which they detect using olfactory cues, likely through olfactory sensilla on the antennae and maxillary palps. Morphological characterisation of olfactory sensilla among insects can provide a basis for future taxonomic, phylogenetic or electrophysiological studies. Scanning electron microscopy was used to describe the morphology of olfactory organs and sensillar equipment of Medetera signaticornis and M. infumata. Three different olfactory sensillum types were found in both fly species, sensilla trichodea, s. basiconica and grooved pegs. Based on size and wall structure, s. trichodea and s. basiconica were categorised into different subtypes. Sharp-tipped curved s. trichodea, and small, large and thin s. basiconica were found on the antennal postpedicel of M. signaticornis adults, while grooved s. basiconica were found in M. infumata. The density of sharp-tipped long s. trichodea was significantly higher in males compared to females, and in M. signaticornis compared to M. infumata. Long-grooved s. basiconica were found grouped in a small pit on the maxillary palps of both species. Comparison of our results with the limited available ecological data suggests that differences in numbers of specific sensillum types may reflect adaptations related to olfactory-driven behaviours such as host seeking.

Discovery of a Lineage of Soil-Dwelling Medetera Species with Multi-Coloured Eyes in Southern Europe (Diptera: Dolichopodidae).

Seven species in the genus Medetera (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) are described here: Medetera aglaops sp. nov., Medetera corsicana sp. nov., Medetera gibbosipyga sp. nov., Medetera hispanica sp. nov., Medetera lusitana sp. nov., Medetera parva sp. nov., and Medetera rectipyga sp. nov. They all originate from the wider Mediterranean region in southwestern Europe (Iberian Peninsula, southern France, Corsica, Sardinia). The most striking feature in most of the species is the bi- or multicolour pattern of the eyes, most conspicuous in Medetera aglaops sp. nov. and Medetera lusitana sp. nov. This character is shared by the male and female sex and is thus not regarded as Male Secondary Sexual Character. All species belong to the Medetera apicalis species group sensu Bickel and are closely related based on shared characters in the hypandrium and cercus. Interestingly, three species with and four species without the basal pair of anterodorsal and posterodorsal bristles on the mid tibia are represented. This suggests that this diagnostic character has less phylogenetic relevance than previously anticipated. Unlike most Palaearctic Medetera, at least five of the new species are mostly found on rocky substrates in dry biotopes with a sclerophyllous vegetation. This further supports their relationship with species of the Medetera muralis subclade sensu Pollet, Germann and Bernasconi.

High endemicity in aquatic dance flies of Corsica, France (Diptera, Empididae, Clinocerinae and Hemerodromiinae), with the description of a new species of Chelipoda.

All known records of aquatic dance flies (Empididae, Clinocerinae: 21 species; Hemerodromiinae: eight species) from the island of Corsica (France) are summarized, including previously unpublished data and data on the newly described species Chelipoda puschae Ivkovic, Perovic & Grootaert, sp. nov. This species was collected during the "La Planète Revisitée Corsica 2019" survey and represents the first description of a new species in the genus Chelipoda from the European-Mediterranean region in more than 180 years. A key to European species of Chelipoda is provided. Including the new species, five species are recorded from Corsica for the first time: Dolichocephala malickyi Wagner, 1995, Dolichocephala oblongoguttata (Dale, 1878), Dolichocephala ocellata (Costa, 1854), Chelifera subangusta Collin, 1961, and Hemerodromia unilineata Zetterstedt, 1842. The new species is described and illustrated, and new records of aquatic dance flies from Corsica are given, with new data on 17 species in eight different genera. At present, 29 species of aquatic dance flies are known from Corsica, with 10 species endemic to the island.

Description of a new Eucoryphus species from the island of Corsica, France (Diptera: Dolichopodidae, Hydrophorinae).

Eucoryphus Mik is a Palaearctic genus of Dolichopodidae, previously with two described species confined to the montane and alpine zones of the European Alps. This paper describes a third species, Eucoryphus piscariviverus sp. nov., discovered in the mountains of southern Corsica. The systematic position of the genus Eucoryphus and the ecology of its species are discussed in detail and a key to males of the three species is provided.

Checklist of the Dolichopodidae (Diptera, Empidoidea) of the Balkan Peninsula, with first records for Bulgaria, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and for the European part of Turkey.

This paper presents 58 new records of the family Dolichopodidae for Bulgaria, Montenegro, North Macedonia and European part of Turkey, collected from 37 localities. Seventeen species are recorded for the first time from Bulgaria, six of which are new to the Balkan Peninsula, 23 species for European Turkey, three of which are new to the entire territory of Turkey, seven species for Montenegro and 11 species for North Macedonia. A checklist of the Dolichopodidae of the Balkan Peninsula is provided. The total number of dolichopodids of the Balkan Peninsula is currently raised to 288 species.

Completing Linnaeus's inventory of the Swedish insect fauna: Only 5,000 species left?

Despite more than 250 years of taxonomic research, we still have only a vague idea about the true size and composition of the faunas and floras of the planet. Many biodiversity inventories provide limited insight because they focus on a small taxonomic subsample or a tiny geographic area. Here, we report on the size and composition of the Swedish insect fauna, thought to represent roughly half of the diversity of multicellular life in one of the largest European countries. Our results are based on more than a decade of data from the Swedish Taxonomy Initiative and its massive inventory of the country's insect fauna, the Swedish Malaise Trap Project The fauna is considered one of the best known in the world, but the initiative has nevertheless revealed a surprising amount of hidden diversity: more than 3,000 new species (301 new to science) have been documented so far. Here, we use three independent methods to analyze the true size and composition of the fauna at the family or subfamily level: (1) assessments by experts who have been working on the most poorly known groups in the fauna; (2) estimates based on the proportion of new species discovered in the Malaise trap inventory; and (3) extrapolations based on species abundance and incidence data from the inventory. For the last method, we develop a new estimator, the combined non-parametric estimator, which we show is less sensitive to poor coverage of the species pool than other popular estimators. The three methods converge on similar estimates of the size and composition of the fauna, suggesting that it comprises around 33,000 species. Of those, 8,600 (26%) were unknown at the start of the inventory and 5,000 (15%) still await discovery. We analyze the taxonomic and ecological composition of the estimated fauna, and show that most of the new species belong to Hymenoptera and Diptera groups that are decomposers or parasitoids. Thus, current knowledge of the Swedish insect fauna is strongly biased taxonomically and ecologically, and we show that similar but even stronger biases have distorted our understanding of the fauna in the past. We analyze latitudinal gradients in the size and composition of known European insect faunas and show that several of the patterns contradict the Swedish data, presumably due to similar knowledge biases. Addressing these biases is critical in understanding insect biomes and the ecosystem services they provide. Our results emphasize the need to broaden the taxonomic scope of current insect monitoring efforts, a task that is all the more urgent as recent studies indicate a possible worldwide decline in insect faunas.

Dipterological surveys in Portugal unveil 200 species of long-legged flies, with over 170 new to the country (Diptera: Dolichopodidae).

A first comprehensive account on the dolichopodid fauna (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) of Portugal is presented as the result of multiple surveys by primarily Portuguese researchers between 2009 and 2016. All mainland Portuguese provinces and all districts but one (Évora) were investigated. A total of 761 dolichopodid samples were collected in 278 sampling sites distributed over 87 municipalities and 182 localities, with nearly ¾ of the samples gathered by sweep net. They contained 6,680 specimens of 200 different species, with 142 recognized (known), 40 new (undescribed) and 18 doubtful species. Medetera and Dolichopus were the most diverse among the recognized species, with 20 and 18 species respectively. Fourteen genera were represented by the new species, with Medetera as most diverse. The doubtful species included one species of Pelastoneurus, which is a first record of this genus for the Palaearctic realm. At present 208 dolichopodid species are known from Portugal. A checklist with 150 recognized species is presented, with first records of 116 species for Portugal. For nearly every species, information on its distribution, ecology and rarity in Portugal and northwestern Europe is given, as well as its seasonal activity in Portugal. Raw distribution data are available as dataset in GBIF. Seventy-five pictures of species in the field, and 15 habitat photos are also provided. Current data suggest that a higher proportion of Portuguese species are rare as compared to the Flemish fauna (northern Belgium). Both share 104 species, with 38 species only recorded from Portugal; only seven can be considered Iberian or Portuguese specialities. Though differences between the two Portuguese biomes cannot be substantiated at this moment, two very common and widespread European species, Campsicnemus scambus and Chrysotimus molliculus, seem to be restricted to the Eurosiberian biome in the northwest of the country. In terms of generic representation, the Portuguese dolichopodid fauna occupies an intermediate position between those of northwestern European and other Mediterranean countries. Despite the large amount of data gathered, the dolichopodid fauna of Portugal remains insufficiently known and a considerable number of additional known and new species can be expected with continued sampling.

Dolichopodidae of riverbeds and springs in Croatia with an updated checklist of Croatia (Diptera).

Several invertebrate surveys in Croatia conducted between 2005 and 2014 and including; e.g., Plitvice Lakes, produced 123 bycatch samples of Dolichopodidae (Diptera) from 68 sampling sites collected at 36 localities in seven counties. Seventy-seven were retrieved from emergence traps, six from pan traps and 40 were collected with sweep net and/or aspirator. They contained 420 dolichopodid flies that belonged to 64 species in 22 genera. Four species, Campsicnemus umbripennis, Hercostomus chetifer, Liancalus virens and Syntormon pallipes, accounted for over half of the yields. Contrary to most species that were found in largest numbers in rivers, and their beds in particular, S. pallipes and Hercostomus gracilis were considerably more abundant at springs. Fifty-five species could be added to the national checklist which raises the total number to 94 species. All species records are given, the habitat of each species is described, if possible, and taxonomic notes are provided for some dubious species. Finally, elements are presented to support the assumption that the extant dolichopodid species richness of Croatia is at least three- to fourfold of the current number.

The quest for the identity of Orthoceratiumlacustre (Scopoli, 1763) reveals centuries of misidentifications (Diptera, Dolichopodidae).

Recently, a species of Orthoceratium was collected in Greece that differs morphologically from the European species commonly presumed to be Orthoceratiumlacustre (Scopoli, 1763). Verification of the identity of the Greek species through comparison with 460 specimens of Orthoceratium from 17 West Palaearctic and one Afrotropical country, and examination of existing type material, revealed that the species recognized as O.lacustre in northwestern Europe for over 250 years is actually O.sabulosum (Becker, 1907), the other known species in the genus, which was originally described from Tunisia. Although the types of O.lacustre have been lost, a comparison of the distribution ranges of both species in Europe provided evidence that the species collected in Greece is conspecific with O.lacustre. Both species have distinct distributions in the West Palaearctic, with O.lacustre largely restricted to the northern border of the Mediterranean basin, and O.sabulosum more widespread, occurring in northwestern Europe, the western, southern, and eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East, and the Afrotropical Region (Tanzania). Both species are redescribed and fully illustrated, a neotype is designated for O.lacustre and a lectotype for O.sabulosum, and a key to males and females is provided. The misidentifications that lasted for over two centuries are explained by the omission by previous authors to study the type specimens, and inaccuracies in species descriptions and keys.

New species and records of Cheiromyia Dyte from Brazil and French Guiana (Diptera: Dolichopodidae).

Cheiromyia carolina Limeira-de-Oliveira Brooks sp. nov. and C. nordestina Limeira-de-Oliveira Cumming sp. nov. are described from Brazil, and C. fuscipennis Pollet Brooks sp. nov. is described from the Mitaraka Mountains in southwestern French Guiana. New distribution records are reported for C. brevitarsis Brooks, C. palmaticornis (Parent) and C. pennaticornis (Parent), and a revised key to males of the eight known species of Cheiromyia Dyte, 1980 is provided. The female of C. pennaticornis is also described for the first time.

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.

Dolichopus nimbatus Parent, 1927 revisited, with two new synonyms (Diptera: Dolichopodidae).

On the basis of comparison between the female holotype of Dolichopus nimbatus Parent and the female paratype of D. balius Meuffels, and comparison of a male paratype of D. balius with the description of D. thalhammeri Knézy, D. balius and D. thalhammeri are designated junior synonyms of D. nimbatus. Dolichopus nimbatus ranges from northern France and Belgium to southern Turkey. Ecological features might explain its rarity in collections.

The Tabanidae of the Mitaraka expedition, with an updated check list of French Guiana (Diptera).

This paper documents the horse fly fauna collected in lowland rainforest in the southwesternmost part of French Guiana (Mitaraka). During this "Our Planet Revisited" survey nine tabanid species were recorded from French Guiana for the first time: Chrysops ecuadorensis Lutz, C. incisus Macquart, Catachlorops amazonicus Henriques & Gorayeb, Chlorotabanus flagellatus Krolow & Henriques, Cryptoylus cauri Stone, Phaeotabanus phaeopterus Fairchild, Philipotabanus stigmaticalis (Kröber), Stypommisa captiroptera (Kröber) and Tabanus amapaensis Fairchild. An updated check list of Tabanidae of French Guiana is presented, including 79 species and one unidentified Chrysops.

Eight new species of Dolichopodinae (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) from northern Iran.

Dipterological surveys were conducted in different sites in western and central parts of northern Iran (Guilan, Mazandaran, Kordestan, East and West Azerbaijan and Ardabil provinces) during 2010-2011 using Malaise traps, and during 2012-2014 employing sweep nets. A total of 110 species were collected, including 42 Dolichopodinae. Eleven dolichopodine species proved new to science, eight of which are described here: Dolichopus fuscicercus sp. nov., D. subimmaculatus sp. nov., Gymnopternus flavitibia sp. nov., G. atratus sp. nov., Hercostomus setitibia sp. nov., H. albicoxa sp. nov., Poecilobothrus annulitarsis sp. nov. and P. innotabilis sp. nov. Some of these species strongly resemble European species and even share near identical conspicuous male secondary sexual characters.

A long-lasting taxonomic problem in European Sympycnus resolved, with the description of a new species and data on habitat preferences.

Type specimens of Sympycnus pulicarius, S. annulipes, S. cinerellus and S. desoutteri were examined to clear up a long-lasting taxonomic confusion. Our study revealed that they represent, together with S. pygmaeus and S. annulipes var. brunnitibialis, a single species, with S. pulicarius as the senior subjective synonym, which is redescribed in this paper. Lectotypes were designated for Dolichopus pulicarius, Porphyrops annulipes, Chrysotus cinerellus and Sympycnus desoutteri. The postpedicel in this species shows substantial variation in shape and size, but the presence of a posteroventral bristle on the mid tibia is more reliable and the particular chaetotaxy and relative lengths of the tarsomeres of the male hind tarsus are entirely consistent. Both latter features separate S. pulicarius from another species, S. septentrionalis sp. nov., that is described here. Ecological data on both species were examined. An analysis of Malaise trap and white pan trap samples collected in Belgium revealed that S. pulicarius is most common in the western part of Flanders, and most abundant in open grassy habitats. In contrast to S. pulicarius, which is widespread over Europe, S. septentrionalis sp. nov. seems confined to northern Europe, where it exhibits a similar habitat preference.

Arthropod Distribution in a Tropical Rainforest: Tackling a Four Dimensional Puzzle.

Quantifying the spatio-temporal distribution of arthropods in tropical rainforests represents a first step towards scrutinizing the global distribution of biodiversity on Earth. To date most studies have focused on narrow taxonomic groups or lack a design that allows partitioning of the components of diversity. Here, we consider an exceptionally large dataset (113,952 individuals representing 5,858 species), obtained from the San Lorenzo forest in Panama, where the phylogenetic breadth of arthropod taxa was surveyed using 14 protocols targeting the soil, litter, understory, lower and upper canopy habitats, replicated across seasons in 2003 and 2004. This dataset is used to explore the relative influence of horizontal, vertical and seasonal drivers of arthropod distribution in this forest. We considered arthropod abundance, observed and estimated species richness, additive decomposition of species richness, multiplicative partitioning of species diversity, variation in species composition, species turnover and guild structure as components of diversity. At the scale of our study (2 km of distance, 40 m in height and 400 days), the effects related to the vertical and seasonal dimensions were most important. Most adult arthropods were collected from the soil/litter or the upper canopy and species richness was highest in the canopy. We compared the distribution of arthropods and trees within our study system. Effects related to the seasonal dimension were stronger for arthropods than for trees. We conclude that: (1) models of beta diversity developed for tropical trees are unlikely to be applicable to tropical arthropods; (2) it is imperative that estimates of global biodiversity derived from mass collecting of arthropods in tropical rainforests embrace the strong vertical and seasonal partitioning observed here; and (3) given the high species turnover observed between seasons, global climate change may have severe consequences for rainforest arthropods.

Fauna europaea: Diptera - brachycera.

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 Thyreophoracynophila (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.