An overview of the Syrphidae (Diptera) of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Despite the species richness of hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) world-wide (about 6,200 species) and their role as agents for controlling plant pests, their significance as pollinators, and as bioindicators of site quality, hoverfly fauna of Saudi Arabia is poorly known. In exploring the biodiversity of Diptera in southwest Saudi Arabia a survey of the hoverfly fauna of Jazan, Asir, Najran and Al-Baha was performed mainly using Malaise traps, sweep nets and light traps from 2011 to 2014. Forty known species of Syrphidae were identified and recorded in this study, 19 of them new to Saudi Arabia. This makes the total number of Syrphidae species recorded in Saudi Arabia (including one species recorded by others) is 41. In addition, three taxa belonging to the genera Eumerus Meigen, Orthonevra Macquart, and Paragus Latreille that could not be identified safely to species level because there were no adequate identification keys or males were missing in the collected material. A key to the genera of Syrphidae occurring in Saudi Arabia is provided. The fauna of Syrphidae recorded in this study consists much more of Afrotropical zoogeographical elements than Palaearctic ones. A complete checklist of Syrphidae of Saudi Arabia is provided. Biological data, where known, and world-wide distribution of the studied taxa are provided. This paper is published with the purpose of assisting biogeographical, biological or ecological studies on syrphids in Saudi Arabia.

Two species of the hoverfly genus Eumerus Meigen (Diptera: Syrphidae) new record for Pakistan

“…Terminology of adult morphology follows Cumming & Wood (2017). The distribution map was prepared by using the present collection and previously reported data from neighboring countries (Burgio & Sommaggio, 2002;Khaghaninia et al, 2010;van Eck, 2011;Ghorpadé, 2015;Grković et al, 2015;Samin et al, 2016;El-Hawagry et al, 2017;Smith et al, 2017;Mutin & Barkalov, 2018;Anooj et al, 2020;Dawah et al, 2020;Speight et al, 2021;Torretta et al, 2021;Heimburg et al, 2022).…”

“…Distribution: Pakistan (Punjab: Rawalpindi), new country record, -Arabian Peninsula, Egypt (Ezbet El Nakhl), Greece (Santorini Island), Guinea-Bissau, India (New Delhi), Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, Yemen (Bezzi, 1912;Efflatoun, 1922;Curran, 1938;Grković et al, 2015;Smith et al, 2017;El-Hawagry et al, 2017;Dawah et al, 2020;Anooj et al, 2020).…”

An updated checklist of Syrphidae (Diptera, Brachycera) from Iran

“…Journal of Insect Biodiversity and Systematics 2023  9 (2) Dawah et al, 2020). However, compared to other countries such as Georgia (350 species: Mengual et al, 2020) and Serbia (400 species: Vujić et al, 2021), which have a much smaller area, and due to the more climate diversity of Iran compared to these countries and the fact that syrphid fauna of some provinces of Iran has not been well studied, it seems that Iran must have a much richer fauna of hoverflies and much more research is needed in this field.…”

Six new species of the genus Eumerus Meigen, 1822 from Iran (Diptera, Syrphidae)

“…It is recorded from the following Mediterranean countries Spain (including Canary Islands), southern France, Italy, Algeria and Balkans as well as Australasian and Neotropical (Brazil, Paraguay) regions. But in contrast, the remaining species such as E. efflatouni (Curran, 1938) and E. incilis have been modestly spread as are exclusively known from Egypt and the United Arab Emirates respectively (Dawah et al, 2020;Ricarte et al, 2020). Both the Iranian species of this group frequent the southern subtropical parts of the country whose climate is characterized by relatively higher temperatures and humidity.…”