Latest updates

Gnophomyia (Diptera, Limoniidae) key to adults and larval rearing data.

Geoff Hancock — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:40:04 +0000

file:///H:/malloch/Gnophomyia/Sahlbergia14_1_Hancock.pdf

SCOTTISH MONTANE INVERTEBRATES

ADMIN — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:36:40 +0000

Work has just begun (May 2008) on a two year project to increase the knowledge of the montane invertebrates of Scotland, which includes all insect orders and spiders. The work, which is mainly funded by Scottish Natural Heritage, is being managed by staff in the National Museums of Scotland. Other partners include the National Trust for Scotland, the John Muir Trust and Butterfly Conservation Scotland. The project will run for two years and will include an extensive sampling programme on mountain sites owned by the partner organisations.

At this time of climatic change it is essential that we obtain up to date information on Scotland’s montane invertebrate species and establish their geographical and attitudinal distribution to act as baselines against which any further monitoring work can be set.

The project comprises of five main areas of work :

Development of a database of Scottish Montane Invertebrates - to be compiled from specimens in museum collections, literature references and from specimens collected as part of the project
Sampling and collection of new material - water trap / pitfall trap sampling to be undertaken on 10 mountain sites across Scotland owned by the partners
Identification of specimens - to be organised by the National Museums of Scotland with resulting specimens added to their collections
Studies of montane Lepidoptera - survey work undertaken by BC(S) to determine present geographic and attitudinal distribution of montane Lepidoptera concentrating on BAP species such as the Black Mountain moth - as shown in the photograph to the right.
Analysis and outputs - database of all records of montane species will be made available - scientific papers, seminars and reports.

Hand collecting of specimens by entomologists and volunteers will also form part of the survey effort and hopefully shall provide some more up to date information on the attitudinal distribution of species such as the montane beetle Nebria nivalis

Index of Items in World Lonchaeidae

ADMIN — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:58:31 +0000

An overview of the World fauna

Checklist of World Lonchaeidae

Key to the European genera

New species from Taiwan (2004)

New species from the Palearctic (2004)

A new species of Neosilba from Brazil- http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2005f/z00828f.pdf

New species from central and Southern Africa (2005)

New species from Malaysia (2005)

New species from Asia (2007)

Updated checklist for Hungary (2007)

Lonchaeidae specimens in the National Museums of Scotland

Lonchaeidae from the United Arab Emirates

ADMIN — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:06:32 +0000

The recently published first volume of the “Arthropod fauna of the UAE” contains a short chapter on Lonchaeidae. Two species are recorded from the country for the first time - Lamprolonchaea metatarsata (Kertesz, 1901) which was recorded in good numbers at several localities and an two unidentified female specimens, most probably of the same species, in the genus Silba. Little has been previously known about the Lonchaeid fauna of the Arabian peninsula and these intertesting records help fill in some of the gaps in world distribution.

MacGowan, I. 2007. Order Diptera, family Lonchaeidae. In van Harten, A. (ed.) Arthropod fauna of the UAE. 1: 640-642. Dar Al Ummah Publishing, Abu Dhabi.

Hoverfly atlas has 89% coverage !

ADMIN — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 09:11:20 +0000

The Scottish Hoverfly atlas contains approximately 50,000 species records from an amazing 89% of the 10Km grid squares in Scotland. In order to promote further recording, understanding and conservation of hoverflies in Scotland this unique dataset is now being put on-line for all to use. Go to the Scotish Hoverfly Atlas page to find out more

Described species reach 500

ADMIN — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:25:13 +0000

The latest world checklist reveals that there are now some 500 described species of Lonchaeidae, with many more out there still to be recognised!

Follow this link to see the updated list

New species of Lonchaeidae described

ADMIN — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:07:48 +0000

Twenty-two species of Lonchaeidae have been newly described from Asia. follow the link to find out more ……..

Welcome to the on-line version of the Scottish Hoverfly Atlas

ADMIN — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:30:12 +0000

Overall 10KmSq. coverage

The Scottish hoverfly fauna consists of 222 species and 9 forms or sub-species, out of 274 British species. However, some of the Scottish species are probably extinct e.g. Didea alneti, while others e.g. Rhingia rostrata, are probably mis-identifications. There are 13 species unique to Scotland and not found in the rest of the British Isles.

To date nearly 50,000 records of hoverflies, covering some 998 10Km squares, out of a possible 1116 squares, are held on a computer database by Kob-Web records.

Literature sources have yielded over 5000 records. The main publications being:

The Scottish Naturalist

Annals of the Scottish Naturalist

Entomologists Monthly Magazine

as well as some local natural history journals such as:

Transactions of the Natural History Society of Glasgow

Transactions of the Perthshire Society of Natural Sciences

Transactions of aberdeen Working Men’s Natural History & Science Society

The main museum collections are found in:

The Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh

The Hunterian Museum, Glasgow

Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow

Perth Museum & Art Gallery

Dundee City Museum

Aberdeen University Natural History Museum

Maps of the Scottish Syrphidae

Map Anasimyia contracta

Map Anasimyia interpuncta

Map Arctophila superbiens

Map Brachyopa insensilis

Map Brachyopa pilosa

Map Brachyopa scutellaris

Map Brachypalpoides lenta

Map Chamaesyrphus scaevoides

Map Cheilosia albipila

Map Cheilosia chrysocoma

Map Cheilosia grossa

Map Criorhina floccosa

Map Criorhina ranunculi

Map Chrysotoxum arcuatum

Map Chrysotoxum bicinctum

Map Eristalinus aeneus

Map Eristalis pertinax

Map Eristalis rupium

Map Ferdinandea cuprea

Map Helophilus hybridus

Map Xylota jakutorum

Map Xylota segnis

Map Xylota sylvarum

Map Xylota tarda

Initiative for Scottish Invertebrates meeting

ADMIN — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:20:14 +0000

A meeting of the Initiative for Scottish Invertebrates which took place at SNH Battleby on the 25^th October 2007 attracted an audience of nearly 90 attendees interested in invertebrate conservation . The meeting was part of the Conserving Scottish Invertebrates project which is in the process of developing a conservation strategy for invertebrates.

Presentations and discussions took place on four main issues : Defining invertebrate biodiversity loss; Halting Invertebrate biodiversity loss, Understanding and documenting invertebrate diversity and

Promoting education and awareness of invertebrates. Four working groups have now been set up to develop further thinking on these areas with the aim of having the final “Strategy for Scottish Invertebrates” document published during the summer of 2008

For further information contact Craig.MacAdam@buglife.org.uk

A new synonomy in European Lonchaeidae

ADMIN — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:00:46 +0000

Lonchaea britteni Collin, 1953 is now recognised as a synonym of L. corusca Czerny, 1934. The two species were very similar including in the structure of the male genitalia but were sepperated in keys by the presence or absence of eye hairs. However it is now recognised that this is a variable character and that only one species is involved.

Reference : MacGowan, I. Further additions and changes to the fauna of British Lonchaeidae (Diptera). Dipterists Digest 2006 13, 101-102