Abstract:We report the establishment of two representatives of a new ecological functional group on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia -pollinating insects -in the form of the hoverfly Eristalis croceimaculata Jacobs (Diptera, Syrphidae) and the blowfly Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy (Diptera, Calliphoridae). The floricolous adults of these two species provide a new ecological role, pollination, in the ecosystems of this island. The activity of their respectively saprophogous or necrophagous larvae will also augment that of the native insect and microarthropod soil fauna. We discuss the potential new synergy between this functional group and that of a number of established non-native plants, reliant on insect pollinators for successful seed-set and hence dispersal, that are currently of persistent status with very limited local distributions.
This paper discusses the importance of naturalists, their relationship to the extinction of experience concept and significance to insect conservation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.