New data on hoverfly fauna (Diptera: Syrphidae) of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Hoverflies (Syrphidae) are a large Dipteran family, distributed almost worldwide. They play very important ecological roles such as plant pollination, nutrient recycling and predation of plant pests. The members of the genus Epistrophe Walker, 1852 are medium-sized hoverflies of which about 75 species have been described in the World, and 12 of them occur in Europe. During a survey, conducted from 16th June to 4th July 2021 at Blidinje Nature Park (Bosnia and Herzegovina), a new species, of the fauna of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was recorded – Epistrophe diaphana (Zetterstedt, 1843) and new records for species Epistrophe leiophthalma (Schiner & Egger, 1853) were observed. Specimens were collected from inflorescences of Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium L.). Information about the records, species habitats, distribution and status in the country and the region is presented and discussed in this research work.

National records of 3000 European bee and hoverfly species: A contribution to pollinator conservation

“…Knowledge on the taxonomy, ecology and distribution of many taxa encompassed by this study is of course prone to changes in the future. Taxonomic revisions are still an ongoing process for some challenging groups, such as the bee genera Andrena Fabricius, 1775 (Praz et al, 2022; Wood, 2021; Wood et al, 2021), Dasypoda Latreille, 1802 (Ghisbain et al 2023; Radchenko, 2016, 2017; Radchenko et al, 2019), Nomada Scopoli, 1770 (Smit, 2018), Osmia Panzer, 1806 (Müller, 2018, 2022b) and Hoplitis Klug, 1807 (Müller, 2014a; Müller & Mauss, 2016); and the hoverfly genera Merodon Meigen, 1803 (Vujić, Tot, et al 2021; Vujić, Likov, et al, 2021; Vujić, Radenković, et al, 2020; Vujić, Radenković, et al, 2021; Vujić, Speight, et al, 2020) and Eumerus Meigen, 1822 (Aguado‐Aranda et al, 2022; Grković et al, 2019, 2021). In these groups, the number of described species (including cryptic ones) is continuously increasing in part thanks to increased access to a large array of diagnostic methods such as DNA barcoding, semio‐chemical analysis and geometric morphometrics.…”

Forest and grassland habitats support pollinator diversity more than wildflowers and sunflower monoculture

“…Although primarily agricultural land, it also features the remains of typical Pannonian forest steppes. The main reservoirs of biodiversity in Vojvodina are small fragments of managed grasslands, steppes, riparian sites and continental salt marshes as well as two major forest sites, Fruška gora and Vršački breg, which provide habitat and abundant additional resources for a great variety of wildlife (Vujić & Glumac, 1994; Vujić & Šimić, 1994). Besides offering a wide choice of floral resources and nesting places to pollinators, these forest habitats are less exposed to agricultural chemicals, one of the main contributors to the global pollinator decline (Evans et al, 2018; Main et al, 2020; Moquet et al, 2018), in comparison to the sunflower fields and wildflower strips in their surroundings (Markov et al, 2016).…”