Classification of Syrphidae

Our Science focuses on flower flies (Insecta, Diptera: Syrphidae), a large world-wide group of some 6,300 known species, placed into some 300 distinctive groups (Thompson 2010; Skevington et al. 2019). This EoL fellowship will provide a popular framework to disseminate the knowledge generated from current studies on Syrphidae systematics and phylogenetics. Classification below the family level remains a very important question to solve. The last revision of the Syrphidae species-groups was done more than 60 years ago (Hull 1949).

Four subfamilies are currently recognized (Eristalinae, Microdontinae, Pipizinae and Syrphinae), but some authors (Thompson 1969, 1972, 2020; Speight 1987) have split off the basal clades of Syrphidae, recognizing the separate family Microdontidae. There are 202 genera and 96 non-typic subgenera of Syrphidae currently recognized in the world (Thompson et al. 2010, MCAD), which are traditionally grouped into 13 tribes and 12 subtribes (Thompson 1972; Vockeroth 1992; Young et al. 2016). Recent phylogenetic analyses using larval characters (Rotheray and Gilbert 1999) support a different view and new data from molecular sequences when used in a total evidence analysis (Ståhls et al. 2003; Mengual et al. 2008: Mengual et al. 2015; Young et al. 2016) provide a different scenario: only subfamilies Microdontinae, Pipizinae and Syrphinae are supported as monophyletic, while the monophyly of Eristalinae is not supported or lent only limited support (Skevington and Yeates 2000; Ståhls et al. 2003; Hippa and Ståhls 2005; Young et al. 2016: Pauli et al. 2018).

The Excel file here presented is a summary of the classification for Syrphidae our team use. This classification is the first attempt to incorporate the new phylogenetic results of the last taxonomic studies into the systematics of the flower flies; thus, it is not fixed and it can change in the future.

Download Syrphidae Classification Excel FIle

Fri, 2014-07-18 17:05 -- Ximo
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Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith