Crisis in Neotropical Dipterology

Diptera, or true flies, are extremely diverse but poorly known, especially in the Neotropical Region. Malaise trap catches from four sites are analyzed and found to contain mostly Diptera, with nematocerous families numerically dominant. Taxonomic activity, judged by the number of new species descriptions over the last 7 years, is extremely low for Neotropical taxa, probably because of grossly insufficient resources available to the few available researchers.

Malaise Trap Catches and the Crisis in Neotropical Dipterology full paper - PDF

Tambopata (Trap 1): Tambopata - suspended (Trap 2): Rios Paraisos (Trap 3): Rurrenabaque (Trap 4):
ORDER # ORDER # ORDER # DIPTERA FAMILIES #
Diptera 4082 Diptera 734 Diptera 680 Cecidomyiidae 559
Hymenoptera 380 Hymenoptera 45 Hymenoptera 260 Sphaeroceridae 206
Coleoptera 52 Coleoptera 43 Coleoptera 68 Ceratopogonidae 103
Collembola 47 Homoptera 35 Homoptera 29 Sciaridae 92
Homoptera 35 Collembola 14 Collembola 13 Chironomidae 74
Psocoptera 24 Hemiptera 11 Orthoptera 5 Dolichopodidae 24
Hemiptera 19 Orthoptera 10 Psocoptera 5 Phoridae 17
Orthoptera 4 Psocoptera 9 Hemiptera 2 Empididae 16
Blattodea 1 Blattodes 3 Blattodea 1 Stratiomyidae 11
Thysanoptera 1 Spider 1 Spider 1 Psychodidae 9
Neuroptera 1 TOTAL 905 TOTAL 1064 Ephydridae 9
TOTAL 4646         Scatopsidae 8
    DIPTERA FAMILIES # DIPTERA FAMILIES # Culicidae 7
DIPTERA FAMILIES # Cecidomyiidae 306 Phoridae 191 Chloropidae 7
Cecid 1588 Sciaridae 153 Cecidomyiidae 189 Mycetophilidae 5
Sciarid 908 Ceratopogonidae 57 Sciaridae 40 Drosophilidae 4
Ceratopogonid 694 Mycetophiloidea 56 Chloropidae 33 Tachinidae 3
Chironomid 351 Tipulidae 43 Sphaeroceridae 30 Tipulidae 3
Phorid 119 Psychodidae 33 Tachinidae 29 Agromyzidae 2
Mycetophilid 69 Chironomidae 30 Simuliidae 23 Asilidae 2
Culicid 63 Culicidae 14 Mycetophiloidea 18 Syrphidae 2
Psychodid 55 Drosophilidae 13 Muscidae 17 Milichiidae 2
Chloropid 53 Stratiomyidae 11 Dolichopodidae 15 Sepsidae 2
Dolichopodid 45 Phoridae 10 Ceratopogonidae 14 Richardiidae 1
Tipulid 41 Dolichopodidae 3 Psychodidae 13 Pipunculidae 1
Sphaerocerid 24 Syrphidae 2 Milichiidae 12 Neriidae 1
Drosophilid 14 Asilidae 2 Ulidiidae 6 Bibionidae 1
Syrphid 12 Tabanidae 2 Drosophilidae 5    
Empidid 7 Sphaeroceridae 2 Chironomidae 5    
Muscid 7 Muscidae 1 Stratiomyidae 5    
Pseudopomyzid 6 Empididae 1 Empididae 4    
Ephydrid 5 Sarcophagidae 1 Sarcophagidae 4    
Milichiid 4 Tachinidae 1 Syrphidae 3    
Sarcophagid 3 Calliphoridae 1 Tabanidae 3    
Tabanid 3 Ephydridae 1 Clusiidae 3    
Bibionid 2 Milichiidae 1 Tipulidae 2    
Clusiid 2     Calliphoridae 2    
Tachinid 2     Ephydridae 2    
Bombyliid 1     Micropezidae 2    
Inbiomyiid 1     Lauxaniidae 2    
Ulidiid 1     Pipunculidae 2    
Richardiid 1     Agromyzidae 2    
Tephridid 1     Tephritidae 1    
        Richardiidae 1    
        Bibionidae 1    
        Pseudopomyzidae 1    

 

Figure 1Figure 1 - Pie charts of dominant orders collected by Malaise traps 1-3
(Lepidoptera excluded)
Figure 2Figure 2 - Pie charts of families of Diptera collected by Malaise traps 1-4
(only 5 most numerous families labeled)
Figure 3Figure 3 - Number of new species per year (top 22 families of Diptera) as described in the Zoological Record, volumes 133–139 (1997–2003) for the Neotropical region.

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