Fauna Europaea provides a public web-service with an index of scientific names (including important synonyms) of all extant multicellular European terrestrial and freshwater animals and their geographical distribution at the level of countries and major islands (east of the Urals and excluding the Caucasus region). The Fauna Europaea project comprises about 230,000 taxonomic names, including 130,000 accepted species and 14,000 accepted subspecies, which is much more than the originally projected number of 100,000 species. Fauna Europaea represents a huge effort by more than 400 contributing taxonomic specialists throughout Europe and is a unique (standard) reference suitable for many user communities in science, government, industry, nature conservation and education. The Diptera–Brachycera is one of the 58 Fauna Europaea major taxonomic groups, and data have been compiled by a network of 55 specialists.Within the two-winged insects (Diptera), the Brachycera constitute a monophyletic group, which is generally given rank of suborder. The Brachycera may be classified into the probably paraphyletic 'lower brachyceran grade' and the monophyletic Eremoneura. The latter contains the Empidoidea, the Apystomyioidea with a single Nearctic species, and the Cyclorrhapha, which in turn is divided into the paraphyletic 'aschizan grade' and the monophyletic Schizophora. The latter is traditionally divided into the paraphyletic 'acalyptrate grade' and the monophyletic Calyptratae. Our knowledge of the European fauna of Diptera–Brachycera varies tremendously among families, from the reasonably well known hoverflies (Syrphidae) to the extremely poorly known scuttle flies (Phoridae). There has been a steady growth in our knowledge of European Diptera for the last two centuries, with no apparent slow down, but there is a shift towards a larger fraction of the new species being found among the families of the nematoceran grade (lower Diptera), which due to a larger number of small-sized species may be considered as taxonomically more challenging.Most of Europe is highly industrialised and has a high human population density, and the more fertile habitats are extensively cultivated. This has undoubtedly increased the extinction risk for numerous species of brachyceran flies, yet with the recent re-discovery of Thyreophora cynophila (Panzer), there are no known cases of extinction at a European level. However, few national Red Lists have extensive information on Diptera.For the Diptera–Brachycera, data from 96 families containing 11,751 species are included in this paper.
Diptera were caught from 1989 to 1992 on an arable field using emergence traps. Since 1982 the field had been subdivided into four plots (1 0 -I,) treated with increasing amounts of pesticides and inorganic fertilizer (1 1 -I,), or no pesticide and only a minimum of fertilizer (1 0 ). There was a crop rotation of sugar beet (1989 and 1992), winter wheat (1990) and winter barley (1991 ). In addition to the field catches, dead leaves sampled before harvest and crop residues were kept in laboratory emergence traps, as well as droppings of mice and hares, which had been exposed in the field, to obtain Diptera whose larvae develop in these substrates. More than 30 species belonging to 15 families were thus reared, most of them from sugar beet substrates. The highest numbers of individuals were reached by Sciaridae, particularly the species Lycoriella fucorum (FREY, 1948), which developed in every kind of substrate. Some of the other species were more or less restricted to one substrate. The results of the field catches show that in the sugar beet crop the emergence rates of the most abundant species of Sciaridae and Phoridae, as well as the family Cecidomyiidae, decreased with increasing rates of agrochemical usage. In the cereal crops, the reactions of these taxa to increasing input of pesticide and fertilizer were more diverse. This is also true for the most abundant species of Drosophilidae and Hybotidae for all crops.
Adult Chironomidae were caught in emergence traps for three subsequent years (1988)(1989)(1990)) on agricultural soil. Larvae were extracted from soil samples taken since June 1989. The field was subdivided into 5 plots treated with different amounts of sewage sludge. On some plots the sludge was artificially enriched with heavy metals. The phenology of Chironomidae in the three years and their distribution over the different plots are discussed. The results suggest that the abundance of Chironomidae is increased by sewage sludge and appears to be also increased by heavy metals.
Niphadobata lutescens (LUNDSTROM, 1908) and N. belgica (BECKER, 1912) males (females could not be distinguished to species) were caught together by pitfall traps on a meadow 460 m above sealevel in the Solling during winter 1970/71, 71/72 and 73/74, respectively. At the same time pitfall trapping in old and young stands of beech and of spruce (390 -500 m above sealevel) provided only N. lutescens with one exception. The distribution of both species which were hitherto not distinguished in most cases is discussed.
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