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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.

Made available in DSpace on 2019-10-06T15:56:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2018-12-01 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. Entomology Section Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard Royal British Columbia Museum and the American Museum of Natural History, 691-8th Ave. SE Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences Poole Agricultural Center Clemson University, 130 McGinty Court, E-143 Depto. de Biologia FFCLRP Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Bandeirantes 3900 Great Lakes Forestry Centre Canadian Forest Service Natural Resources Canada, 1219 Queen St. E. Australian Museum, 1 William Street Department of Natural Resource Sciences McGill University Macdonald Campus Canadian National Collection of Insects Invertebrate Biodiversity Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, K.W. Neatby Building, 960 Carling Avenue Department of Biological Sciences Spaulding Hall University of New Hampshire Department of Biological Sciences Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy Instituto Federal do Triângulo Mineiro – Campus Uberaba. Rua João Batista Ribeiro 4000 Distrito Industrial II Departamento de Zoologia Universidade Federal do Paraná Jardim das Américas Mississippi Entomological Museum Mississippi State University, 100 Old Highway 12, P.O. Drawer 9775 Department of Biology Western Kentucky University Integrative Research Center Field Museum of Natural History Independent Investigator California State Collection of Arthropods, 2683 Tam O’ Shanter Dr., El Dorado Hills California Department of Food and Agriculture California State Collection of Arthropods, 3294 Meadowview Rd. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, 1900 Ben Franklin Parkway American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th St. Department of Entomology University of California Riverside, 900 University Ave. Zoological Museum Biodiversity Unit FI-20014 University of Turku Instituto de Ecología A.C. (INECOL) Red Ambiente y Sustentabilidad, Carretera Antigua a Coatepec 351, Col El Haya, Xalapa Station Linné, Ölands Skogsby 161 I. I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Bogdan Chmielnicki St. 15 Universidad de Panama Department of Natural History University Museum of Bergen University of Bergen, P.O. Box 7800 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 960 Carling Avenue School of Environmental Sciences University of Guelph Department of Entomology Smithsonian Institution, PO Box 37012, MRC 169 Natural History Museum of Denmark, Universitetsparken 15 Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190 Systematic Entomology Laboratory USDA ARS c/o National Museum of Natural History, MRC-168, P.O. Box 37012 Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia CCEN Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Castelo Branco, s/n Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Kliniekstraat 25 Research Group Terrestrial Ecology (TEREC) Ghent University, K.L.Ledeganckstraat 35 Entomology Unit Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS), Vautierstraat 29 USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station Forestry Sciences Laboratory, 1648 S. 7th Avenue Department of Biological Sciences Bishop’s University, 2600 College Street UNESP - Univ Estadual Paulista Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias Departamento de Morfologia e Fisiologia Animal; Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane s/n Canadian National Collection of Insects & Canadian Food Inspection Agency OPL-Entomology, K.W. Neatby Bldg., C.E.F., 960 Carling Ave. Department of Biological Sciences University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW Finnish Museum of Natural History Zoology Unit University of Helsinki Washington State University, 2533 Inter Avenue Bohart Museum of Entomology University of California, One Shields Avenue Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) UNESP - Univ Estadual Paulista Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias Departamento de Morfologia e Fisiologia Animal; Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane s/n

Reeves, Will Karlisle, Epler, John H (2016): New records and a review of the Chironomidae (Diptera) of Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. CHIRONOMUS Journal of Chironomidae Research 29 (29): 29-32, DOI: 10.5324/cjcr.v0i29.2032, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5324/cjcr.v0i29.2032

A survey of the aquatic weed Hydrilla verticillata was conducted in selected Kenyan and Ugandan lakes, and emerging chironomid adults were collected from samples of Hydrilla and seven other aquatic macrophytes. Hydrilla was absent from Lake Victoria, in sites where it previously occurred. Hydrilla was found in four of nine lakes examined in Uganda, i.e. Bisina, Kyoga, Bunyonyi and Mutanda. From 7424 collected chironomid adults, 43 species were identified, 21 (49%) representing new Ugandan records. Thirty-nine (91%) of the species were found on Hydrilla. Three species represent probable undescribed taxa. At our primary site, Lake Bisina, the genera Tanytarsus and Dicrotendipes dominated the chironomid community, comprising 76% of emerged adults. A species accumulation curve for chironomid species associated with Lake Bisina macrophytes suggested that further plant sampling would uncover additional species. Polypedilum wittei, formerly considered for possible biological control of Hydrilla, was not...

To search for potential biological control agents of the aquatic weed, Hydrilla verticillata (L.f.) Royle, emerging chironomid adults were collected from aquatic macrophytes sampled between 2007 and 2009 from near shore sites in Lake Tanganyika, Burundi. Initial surveys identified H. verticillata populations at all sampled locations between Bujumbura and Nyanza Lac. Twenty-six (26) species of Chironomidae emerged from collections of four plant species; Hydrilla, Ceratophyllum demersum variety apiculatum (Cham.) Asch., Potamogeton schweinfurthii A.Benn., and Vallisneria spiralis f. aethiopica (Fenzl) T.Durand and Schinz. Twenty-four of the chironomid species were new country records, but none of them represented undescribed species. Dicrotendipes fusconotatus (Kieffer) dominated the chironomid community, comprising 82% of 32,090 reared adults. The six most common species contributed over 96% of the total midge fauna. Most species were uncommon or rare; nine species were represented by 10 or fewer specimens. A species accumulation curve for the 25 chironomid species reared from Hydrilla suggested that our sampling completely describes the community associated with this plant in northern Lake Tanganyika. Quantitative β-diversity values indicated that chironomid communities of the two Hydrocharitaceae species, Hydrilla and Vallisneria, were most similar to each other, even though they have very different growth forms. Chironomids also emerged in greater numbers from the two Hydrocharitaceae than from the other plants. No chironomid species, including Polypedilum wittei Freeman and Polypedilum dewulfi Goetghebuer, two species formerly considered for possible biological control of Hydrilla, were specific to that plant. Polypedilum species emerged from all sampled aquatic macrophytes. No chironomid-caused damage was seen on Hydrilla. African Chironomidae do not appear to be suitable candidates for biological control of Hydrilla.

Taxonomic and distributional information need to be constantly updated as federal, state, and local agencies continue to use aquatic macroinvertebrates as biological indicators of water quality. While processing benthic macroinvertebrate samples provided by federal and state agencies, production taxonomists at EcoAnalysts, Inc. encountered larvae and pupae of the Neotropical chironomid Oliveiriella Wiedenbrug and Fittkau (Orthocladiinae) and Onconeura semifimbriata (Saether) (Orthocladiinae) from sites in New Mexico and Arizona, USA. These occurrences represent the first Nearctic records of Oliveiriella, establishing a New World distribution, and expand the Nearctic range of Onconeura semifimbriata. We also identified larvae of Tempisquitoneura merrillorum Epler (Orthocladiinae) from 1 site in Nevada, 1 site in Utah, and 6 sites in Arizona, USA. These records expand the Nearctic range for T. merrillorum. These genera are very similar in appearance to other commonly encountered Orthocladiinae gene...

Apedilum elachistus Townes 1945 is recorded from Argentina, representing the southernmost record of this species. Due to dissimilarities found between South and North American specimens a Principal Component Analysis and Minimum Spanning Tree were performed in order to determine if these differences reflect a geographic differentiation. The results show North–South variation in the number of acrostichal setae, number of dorsocentral setae, number of prealar setae, wing length, VR, length of thorax, and length of abdomen for males, and number of gonocoxite IX setae, length of thorax, number of temporal setae, length of palpomere III, wing length, BV2, length of notum, BV1, number of dorsocentral setae, length of palpomere IV, length of abdomen, VR, and length of palpomere V for females. Consequently, Apedilum elachistus is redescribed as larva, pupa, male, and female. Fil: Donato, Mariano Humberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Limnología "Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Limnología; Argentina Fil: Paggi, Analia Constancia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Limnología "Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Limnología; Argentina Fil: Epler, John H.. No especifica

Assessing the biodiversity of macroinvertebrate fauna in freshwater ecosystems is an essential component of both basic ecological inquiry and applied ecological assessments. Aspects of taxonomic diversity and composition in freshwater communities are widely used to quantify water quality and measure the efficacy of remediation and restoration efforts. The accuracy and precision of biodiversity assessments based on standard morphological identifications are often limited by taxonomic resolution and sample size. Morphologically based identifications are laborious and costly, significantly constraining the sample sizes that can be processed. We suggest that the development of an assay platform based on DNA signatures will increase the precision and ease of quantifying biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems. Advances in this area will be particularly relevant for benthic and planktonic invertebrates, which are often monitored by regulatory agencies. Adopting a genetic assessment platform will alleviate some of the current limitations to biodiversity assessment strategies. We discuss the benefits and challenges associated with DNA-based assessments and the methods that are currently available. As recent advances in microarray and next-generation sequencing technologies will facilitate a transition to DNA-based assessment approaches, future research efforts should focus on methods for data collection, assay platform development, establishing linkages between DNA signatures and well-resolved taxonomies, and bioinformatics.

Mature larvae identified as Thermonectus basillaris by culture to adults revealed that larval characters attributed to the species and commonly used in taxonomic literature are incorrect. Species level identifications that are based on published descriptions of T. basillaris and T. nigrofasciatus ornaticollis (as T. ornaticollis) are problematic, even when these are the only two representatives of the genus in a local fauna.

The male imagines of three new species of Bryophaenocladius from the USA, B. paranudisquama sp. n., B. polychaetus sp. n. and B. sclerus sp. n., are described and figured. A key to the male imagines of Nearctic Bryophaenocladius is presented.

A list of identification guides is presented, including keys, descriptions, and other information, many with attached annotations. We have found these manuscripts useful in the determination of the freshwater macroinvertebrates of Florida.