The Black Fungus Gnats (Diptera, Sciaridae) of Norway – Part I: species records published until December 2019, with an updated checklist

Abstract

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.

New record of black fungus gnat (Diptera: Sciaroidea, Sciaridae) from Iran, with a first record for the fauna of the Middle East

“…Sciaridae is still one of the poorest known dipterous families in the Middle East especially Iran, while enormous progress has been made in investigating this group in the last two decades in Europe. This is supported by several studies from countries whose sciarid diversity is relatively well known: 440 species in Germany, 370 in Finland, 299 in Sweden, 261 in United Kingdom, 230 in the Czech Republic, 143 in Norway, 135 in Slovakia, 107 in Romania, and 100 in Ireland (summarized in Heller & Menzel, 2009;Kolcsár & Heller, 2019;Menzel, 2000Menzel, , 2018Menzel & Heller, 2007;Menzel et al, 2020b;Vilkamaa, 2014). Even in small European and North African countries, whose faunas are still poorly studied, more sciarid species have already been recorded than in Iran; e.g., Morocco (55 species), Albania (35), Estonia (28), Malta (24), Latvia and Lithuania (each with 22 species) (summarized in Ebejer & Gatt, 2021;El Ouazzani et al, 2019;Menzel, 2000;Menzel & Heller, 2007;Menzel et al, 2020aMenzel et al, , 2020b.…”

The Arthropod Fauna of Oak (Quercus spp., Fagaceae) Canopies in Norway

“…Borophaga agilis (Meigen, 1830) was reported new to Norway in [25], but was later found to have been reported in [70]. Sciaridae was the second most species-rich group, with 43 species (one species new to science and eleven new records for Norway) [27,71], followed by Chironomidae with 42 species (one species new to science [58], and two new to Norway). In addition, the following families were represented by new records: Limoniidae and Lauxaniidae (one new to the Nordic countries and one new to Norway, respectively), Ceratopogonidae (one new to the Nordic countries) and Fanniidae (one new to Norway).…”

New species and records of Lycoriella Frey (Diptera, Sciaridae) from the Holarctic region

“…With the character combination of the gonostylus with strong apical megasetae, few curved medial megasetae, an indistinct whip-lash seta and a strong intergonocoxal lobe, Lycoriella parva is unique among Lycoriella. The species has been recorded from Austria, Canada, Finland, Norway (mainland and Svalbard), Russia, Sweden and United Kingdom (Wirta et al 2016;Heller & Menzel 2017;Menzel et al 2020;BOLD Systems 2021). Lycoriella brevipila Tuomikoski-Hackman (1963): 15, 22, 26, 31, 33, 43, 47, 49 and 55;Lindroth et al (1973) Remarks.…”