Taxonomy of the genera Scaeva, Simosyrphus and Ischiodon (Diptera: Syrphidae): Descriptions of immature stages and status of taxa

Abstract

Abstract.A review of all known descriptions of immature stages of the species of the genera Scaeva Fabricius, 1805, Ischiodon Sack, 1913 and Simosyrphus Bigot, 1882 is presented using SEM illustrations. The third instar larval and/or pupal morphology of Scaeva dignota (Rondani, 1857), Scaeva mecogramma (Bigot, 1860) and Simosyrphus grandicornis (Macquart, 1842) are newly described. All species of the genera studied in this paper are very similar for all the studied characters of their immature stages, including the chaetotaxy. Molecular characters of the mitochondrial cox1 gene (1128bp) were used for inferring relationships of the studied taxa. The nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) was additionally applied for species delimitation of the closely related species Scaeva selenitica and S. dignota. The Palaearctic Scaeva species could be split into two groups based on the analysis of morphology of posterior respiratory process. These groups were previously diagnosed as S. selenitica

Molecular phylogenetics of the predatory lineage of flower fliesEupeodes-Scaeva(Diptera: Syrphidae), with the description of the Neotropical genusAustroscaevagen. nov.

“…Recently, Láska et al. () synonymized Ischiodon under Simosyrphus based on larval and pupal morphology, supported by a molecular study of a very limited taxon sampling using only part of the gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 ( COI ).…”

“…In the same paper, Láska et al. () rearranged the genus Scaeva , dividing it into two subgenera that corresponded to two of the species groups defined by Dušek and Láska (). Láska et al.…”

“…Láska et al. () used the subgenus names erected by Kuznetzov (), but these names were applied to completely different taxa: the subgenus Semiscaeva Kuznetzov, comprised the selenitica species group, and the subgenus Scaeva s. str. referred to the pyrastri species group.…”

Genetic characterization of the Balkan endemic species, Merodon desuturinus (Diptera: Syrphidae)

“…Genetic diversity of many taxa of hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) has been quantified for allozyme nuclear loci (Ludoški et al, 2002(Ludoški et al, , 2004Milankov et al, 2001Milankov et al, , 2002Milankov et al, , 2005 and for mtDNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) (Pérez-Bañón et al, 2003;Rojo et al, 2006;Láska et al, 2006;Mengual et al, 2006;Milankov et al, 2008a, b, c).…”

Flower Flies (Syrphidae) and Other Biological Control Agents for Aphids in Vegetable Crops

“…Some of the aphidophagous syrphids most common in California are as follows (adapted from Metcalf 1911aMetcalf , 1911bMetcalf , 1912aMetcalf , 1912bMetcalf , 1913Heiss 1938;Bugg 1992;and Láska et al 2006):…”