Biodiversity of Sciaridae (Diptera) in Ukraine

Abstract

Sciarids (Diptera, Sciaridae) or black fungus gnats are small, mainly dark coloured insects whose larvae usually develop in rotting plant remains permeated by fungal hyphae. Typical habitats for sciarids are shaded forests and wet meadows, but some species can migrate from natural biotopes to anthropogenic ecosystems and live as synanthropes. We have investigated ecological and chorological features of sciarids in Ukraine since 2012. Within this work, we collected imagoes during expeditions and excursions in different biotopes using the Malaise trap, by the method of sweeping and with exhauster directly from substrate. Collected imagoes were placed into 5 mL vials with 70% ethanol. In the lab fixed material was dehydrated in absolute ethanol and mounted on the slides in Euparal. Previous registrations are based on 6 field collections, two of them were carried out in the XIX century, 4 observations of “army worms” and two pest records. From published material of these collections 78 sciarid species were known from 17 genera in 8 more or less specified localities of Ukraine. Our sciarid study in the country expanded the data on registered sciarids by adding 18 new species and enriched information about the distribution of sciarids by 86 new findings of previously known species in 12 regions (Volyn, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Khmelnytsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne and Ternopil) of Ukraine. The current checklist of Sciaridae of Ukraine contains 96 species from 17 genera in 168 localities. Through comparison with Germany, whose sciarid fauna is studied much better, for Ukraine we can predict the presence approximately 400 sciarid species, so the species diversity of Sciaridae in Ukraine still poorly known for the known species does not exceed 25 percent of presumed existing species here. The majority of sciarid findings are registered in different types of broadleaf forest biotopes, only a few species have been found also in grassland habitats. Some sciarid species show synanthropic attraction and have been registered in anthropogenic habitats, for example Bradysia fenestralis (pest of cultivated plants in greenhouses), Corynoptera dentiforceps, Scatopsciara atomaria and Corynoptera tridentata. Larvae of Bradysia placida develop in rotten wood, also development of Corynoptera membranigera preimaginal phases possibly takes place in the fruit bodies of fungi (Neoboletus luridiformis, Russula sp.) and Mycetozoa (Fuligo septica).

Distribution of black fungus gnats (Diptera, Sciaridae) in Morocco, with an updated list of species and an emphasis on Moroccan crop pest species

“…Among species of sciarids which show synanthropic attraction and have been recorded in anthropogenic habitats is Scatopsciara atomaria, which is ubiquitous in areas of anthropogenic influence (Mohrig et al, 2012). It was found in the countryside near the rotting remains of a walnut branch, which may indicate trophic links of their larvae with rotting wood (Babytskiy et al, 2022). From rotten wood, harvested in the countryside, male imagoes of Bradysia placida were reared from the larvae (Babytskiy et al, 2022).…”

“…It was found in the countryside near the rotting remains of a walnut branch, which may indicate trophic links of their larvae with rotting wood (Babytskiy et al, 2022). From rotten wood, harvested in the countryside, male imagoes of Bradysia placida were reared from the larvae (Babytskiy et al, 2022). The other species such as B.…”

“…Among the list of species mapped in this atlas, two are as pests in other parts of the world and can also be crop pests in Morocco, while in our work they have not been collected in the cultivated areas. One of these is Bradysia fenestralis, which has been reported as a pest of tomatoes and cucumbers and was found in a greenhouse in the Altay and in a vegetable store in Kazakhstan (Gerbachevskaja, 1963(Gerbachevskaja, , 1969Komarova, 2003;Sataeva, 2006), whereas in Morocco, it has been recorded in an urban forest dominated by Pinus halepensis, the second species is Corynoptera dentiforceps, which was found in the countryside near the rotting remains of a walnut tree branch in Ukraine, which may indicate trophic links of their larvae with decaying wood (Babytskiy et al, 2022), while in Morocco it has been collected in a thuriferous forest at Ouirgane. The last species, Lycoriella agraria, which was listed among the eight common pest species, feeding on live plants and fungi in nurseries, greenhouses, mushroom houses, and houses with plant pots in the Holarctic region (Broadley et al, 2018), was found in a pine forest (Pinus halepensis) in our country.…”

Review of the Genus Sciara Meigen, 1803 (Diptera, Sciaridae) in Ukraine

“…The current number of registered Sciaridae in Ukraine contains 101 species from 17 genera [ 12 ]. This list includes only five Sciara species [ 13 ].…”

“…5259).Distribution. Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the Russian Federation (Amur Krai, western Siberia (Altai)), South Korea, Spain (mainland), Sweden, Ukraine and the United Kingdom[2,5,8,13,18,32,35,42].Chorology in Ukraine. Crimea, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv and Volyn regions.Diagnosis.…”