The Tabanidae of the Mitaraka expedition, with an updated check list of French Guiana (Diptera)

Abstract

This paper documents the horse fly fauna collected in lowland rainforest in the southwesternmost part of French Guiana (Mitaraka). During this “Our Planet Revisited” survey nine tabanid species were recorded from French Guiana for the first time: Chrysops ecuadorensis Lutz, C. incisus Macquart, Catachlorops amazonicus Henriques & Gorayeb, Chlorotabanus flagellatus Krolow & Henriques, Cryptoylus cauri Stone, Phaeotabanus phaeopterus Fairchild, Philipotabanus stigmaticalis (Kröber), Stypommisa captiroptera (Kröber) and Tabanus amapaensis Fairchild. An updated check list of Tabanidae of French Guiana is presented, including 79 species and one unidentified Chrysops.

First records of Ropalomeridae (Diptera, Acalyptratae) from French Guiana

“…Basic arthropod taxonomy and species discovery were at the heart of the survey, although forest ecology and biodiversity distribution modelling were also project topics. The expedition was conducted in the Mitaraka Mountains, a largely unknown and uninhabited area in the southwesternmost corner of French Guiana, directly bordering Suriname and Brazil (Pollet et al 2014;Krolow et al 2017). It is part of the Tumuc-Humac mountains chain, extending east in the Amapá state of Brazil and west in southern Suriname.…”

“…MP coordinated the processing and dissemination of the collected Diptera and was the only Diptera worker actively involved in the entire survey (Pollet et al 2018). Invertebrates were sampled near the base camp, on the drop zone (an area near the base camp that had been clear-cut entirely to allow helicopters to land) and, in particular, along four trails each of about 3.5 km in length that started from the base camp in four different directions (see Krolow et al 2017;Touroult et al 2018). During the first period (22 February-11 March 2015) more than 21 different collecting methods were applied, with a total of 401 traps operational within a perimeter of 1 km².…”

“…During the first period (22 February-11 March 2015) more than 21 different collecting methods were applied, with a total of 401 traps operational within a perimeter of 1 km². This array consisted primarily of pan traps (n = 280), Charax butterfly traps (n = 50), square Malaise traps (SLAM, n = 32), Flight Intercept Traps (FIT, n = 13), Butterfly banana traps (n = 12), and also a light trap (see Krolow et al 2017). In the subsequent periods, pan traps were no longer operational.…”

Three new species of Lecteria Osten Sacken, 1888 (Diptera: Tipulidae) from a scientific survey in Mitaraka (French Guiana)

“…The second author (MP) was the coordinator of the collected Diptera, and was also the only Diptera worker actively involved in this survey. For a complete understanding of the various environments studied in the Mitaraka area, as well as the array of sampling methods used during this expedition, see Krolow et al (2017), Pollet et al (2018 and Touroult et al (2018). Invertebrate sampling was carried out near the base camp, on the drop zone (an area near the base camp that had been clear-cut entirely to allow helicopters to land) and, in particular, along four trails of approximately 3.5 km that started from the base camp in four different directions.…”

“…In 2015, the Museum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN), Paris and the NGO Pro-Natura International (France) coorganized the 5th edition of a large-scale biodiversity survey "Our Planet Revisited" or "La Planète revisitée" Guyane 2014-2015 expedition, also known as the "Mitaraka 2015 survey", conducted in French Guiana (Pollet et al 2014(Pollet et al , 2018Pascal et al 2015;Touroult et al 2018). Both organizations jointly ran the "Our Planet Reviewed" programme (Krolow et al 2017), which aims at rehabilitating taxonomical work that focuses on the largely neglected components of global biodiversity, i.e., invertebrates (both marine and terrestrial). Basic arthropod taxonomy and species discovery were at the heart of the survey, although forest ecology and biodiversity distribution modelling, nevertheless, were also part of the project.…”