Limoniidae is one of the most species-rich Dipteran families, with 661 reported species in Europe. Despite the fact that the European limoniid crane fly fauna has been studied ever since Carolus Linnaeus, it is still poorly known. In this study, we summarise the taxonomic and faunistic studies of European Limoniidae, which described new species and reported first country records, between 2010 and 2020. We also report occurrence data of 244 Limoniidae species which represent the first country records or conformational records from various European countries, as we report ten species from Albania, one from Austria, thirty-seven from Belarus, five from Belgium, two from Bulgaria, two from Estonia, six from Finland, seven from France, fourteen from Greece, sixteen from Hungary, two from Iceland, six from Italy, ten from Latvia, one from Malta, nine from Montenegro, two from The Netherlands, ten from North Macedonia, forty-two from Norway, one from Poland, five from Portugal, twenty from Romania, thirty-eight from Serbia, six from Slovenia, five from Spain and seven species from Sweden for the first time. From the European territory of Russia, we report twenty-eight species from Central European Russia, seventy-two from East European Russia, fifteen from North European Russia, one from Northwest European Russia and seven from North Caucasus for the first time. Confirmatory records and corrigenda are also included.
Black Fungus Gnats (Sciaridae) are a megadiverse, cosmopoliltan family of bibionomorph Diptera. Even in Europe, the continent with the longest tradition in sciarid taxonomy, numerous taxonomic issues remain unresolved and countless species await discovery and description. The fauna of Norway is in these respects no exception. Recognising considerable knowledge gaps, the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre provided substantial funding for a detailed inventory of the Sciaridae species occurring in Norway, which was realised in 2014–2018. The results of this project will be published in a series of papers, of which the first is presented here, summarising available data on the taxonomy, faunistics, and autecology of Norwegian Sciaridae beginning with Zetterstedt’s pioneering work in 1838 and ending with 31 December 2019 as the cut-off date. All published records from that period were analysed. The result is a list of 143 species and four unplaced names. Following a consistent scheme, verified locality details are provide including alternative spellings, habitats, and flight times of adults in Norway, literature citations for the faunistic records, and general taxonomic references for classification or identification. A checklist of the sciarid fauna of Norway and a complete list of the relevant literature are also presented.
(1) We document the invertebrate fauna collected from 24 oak canopies in east and west Norway as a contribution to the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre’s ‘The Norwegian Taxonomy Initiative’. (2) A snap-shot inventory of the canopies was recorded by means of emitting a mist of natural pyrethrum into the canopies at night using a petrol-driven fogger and collecting the specimens in butterfly nets spread on the ground under the canopy. (3) Almost the entire catch of more than 6800 specimens was identified to 722 species. Out of 92 species new to the Norwegian fauna, 21 were new to science and, additionally, 15 were new to the Nordic fauna. Diptera alone constituted nearly half of the species represented, with 61 new records (18 new species). Additionally, 24 Hymenoptera (one new species), six oribatid mites (two new species) and one Thysanoptera were new to the Norwegian fauna. (4) Our study emphasizes the importance of the oak tree as a habitat both for a specific fauna and occasional visitors, and it demonstrates that the canopy fogging technique is an efficient way to find the ‘hidden fauna’ of Norwegian forests. The low number of red listed species found reflects how poor the Norwegian insect fauna is still studied. Moreover, the implication of the IUCN red list criteria for newly described or newly observed species is discussed.
The invasive amphipod Gammarus tigrinus has during the last decades spread to large parts of Northern Europe, mainly using pathways eastwards from The British Isles to Continental Europe and further northeast into the Baltic Sea. From the coastline it has to some extent spread further inland, especially in topographically low-relief landscapes with highly polluted rivers. This account reports another geographical direction of dispersal, towards north into Southern Norway. In coastal brackish-water regions G. tigrinus may displace other gammarids. Large parts of Norway consist of high-relief landscapes close to many estuaries, so the further spread into this country is doubtful. However, if the taxon can avoid the initial barriers using vectors and spread into new watercourses above such barriers and thrive in this new ambient water chemistry, it may have large negative influence on the other benthic fauna. But Norwegian lakes and rivers are most probably too electrolyte-poor to support this species. However, in estuaries and other brackish waters along the coast, at least in the southern part of Norway, the species will thrive. Gammarus tigrinus is the only known intermediate host for the native American acanthocephalan parasite Paratenuisentis ambiguus, which has the American eel as its main host. This parasite also infects the European eel, and this poses an additional threat to the already endangered eel in Norwegian rivers where G. tigrinus has been recorded.
The superfamily Tipuloidea contains the following cranefly families: Cylindrotomidae, Limoniidae, Pediciidae and Tipulidae, with 1267 species known in Europe. Recent studies have increased our knowledge regarding these families substantially, but craneflies still represent an understudied group, even in Europe. A previous paper focused on European Limoniidae, summarizing the faunistic and taxonomic papers concerning the family between 2010 and 2020, and reported additional new country records. In this study, the focus is on the other three cranefly families: Cylindrotomidae, Pediciidae and Tipulidae, summarizing taxonomic and faunistic studies concerning these families in Europe between 2010 and 2022. Also presented are 204 occurrence records belonging to one Cylindrotomidae, 23 Pediciidae and 62 Tipulidae species, which represent first country records from various European countries: three from Albania, three from Belarus, one from Belgium, three from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 13 from Bulgaria, two from Cyprus, two from Denmark, three from Estonia, one from Finland, two from Greece, three from Italy, one from Montenegro, one from North Macedonia, six from Norway, six from Poland, four from Portugal, seven from Serbia, four from Slovenia, two from Spain and one from Sweden, and three from the European territory of Russia. In addition of species known already from Russia, six are presented as new from Central European Russia, 26 from East European Russia, six from North Caucasus and six from North European Russia.
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