Revision of the Oriental species of the hoverfly genus Brunetti, 1923 (Diptera, Syrphidae, Microdontinae).

The species of the hoverfly genus Brunetti, 1923 from the Oriental Region are revised. The resulting number of valid species is 15, of which the following four are described as new: Reemer, , Reemer, , Sankararaman & Reemer, , and Reemer, Three new synonymies are established: de Meijere, 1917, is a junior synonym of de Meijere, 1908; Keiser, 1964, is a junior synonym of Doleschall, 1857; Thompson, 2020, is a junior synonym of Brunetti, 1923. Reemer, is introduced as a replacement name for Huo & Zhao, 2022, which is a primary homonym of Ssymank & Reemer, 2016.

Wild insect diversity increases inter-annual stability in global crop pollinator communities.

While an increasing number of studies indicate that the range, diversity and abundance of many wild pollinators has declined, the global area of pollinator-dependent crops has significantly increased over the last few decades. Crop pollination studies to date have mainly focused on either identifying different guilds pollinating various crops, or on factors driving spatial changes and turnover observed in these communities. The mechanisms driving temporal stability for ecosystem functioning and services, however, remain poorly understood.

A third species of the rarely collected Oriental hoverfly genus Cheng, 2008 (Diptera, Syrphidae, Microdontinae).

is described from Peninsular Malaysia, based on a single female collected in 1962. The other two known species of this genus are also known from single specimens, from Southeastern China and Nepal. A key to the species is given, and the taxonomy and distribution of the genus are discussed.

Revision of the Neotropical hoverfly genus Reemer (Diptera, Syrphidae, Microdontinae).

The species of the Neotropical hoverfly genus Reemer, 2013 are revised, based on morphological characters with aid of mitochondrial DNA barcodes. The resulting number of valid species is increased to 31, of which the following seven are described as new: Reemer, , Reemer, , Reemer, , Reemer, , Reemer, , Reemer, , and Reemer, Two new synonymies are established: Curran, 1925, and Curran, 1925, are both junior synonyms of Fabricius, 1805. A neotype is designated for Sack, 1921.

sp. n., a new microdontine hoverfly from northern Brazil (Diptera: Syrphidae: Microdontinae).

Ubristes rex sp. n., a hoverfly of the subfamily Microdontinae (Diptera: Syrphidae) is described from northern Brazil (Roraima).

The interplay of climate and land use change affects the distribution of EU bumblebees.

Bumblebees in Europe have been in steady decline since the 1900s. This decline is expected to continue with climate change as the main driver. However, at the local scale, land use and land cover (LULC) change strongly affects the occurrence of bumblebees.

Description of Myolepta pazukii Gilasian & Reemer sp. nov. (Diptera: Syrphidae) with notes on the Iranian species of Myolepta Newman.

Myolepta pazukii Gilasian & Reemer sp. nov. is described from Iran based on a single male specimen.

Palpada panorama sp. n. (Diptera: Syrphidae), a big-eyed hoverfly from Peru and Suriname.

The hoverfly species Palpada panorama sp. n. (Diptera: Syrphidae) is described based on specimens from Peru and Suriname.

Anchored enrichment dataset for true flies (order Diptera) reveals insights into the phylogeny of flower flies (family Syrphidae).

Background: Anchored hybrid enrichment is a form of next-generation sequencing that uses oligonucleotide probes to target conserved regions of the genome flanked by less conserved regions in order to acquire data useful for phylogenetic inference from a broad range of taxa. Once a probe kit is developed, anchored hybrid enrichment is superior to traditional PCR-based Sanger sequencing in terms of both the amount of genomic data that can be recovered and effective cost. Due to their incredibly diverse nature, importance as pollinators, and historical instability with regard to subfamilial and tribal classification, Syrphidae (flower flies or hoverflies) are an ideal candidate for anchored hybrid enrichment-based phylogenetics, especially since recent molecular phylogenies of the syrphids using only a few markers have resulted in highly unresolved topologies.

The first southwest Asian record of the subfamily Microdontinae, and the description of a new species of Metadon Reemer from Iran (Diptera: Syrphidae).

Metadon persicus Gilasian & Reemer sp. nov. is described, based on a single female specimen from the Zagros mountains in Iran.

Testing projected wild bee distributions in agricultural habitats: predictive power depends on species traits and habitat type.

Species distribution models (SDM) are increasingly used to understand the factors that regulate variation in biodiversity patterns and to help plan conservation strategies. However, these models are rarely validated with independently collected data and it is unclear whether SDM performance is maintained across distinct habitats and for species with different functional traits. Highly mobile species, such as bees, can be particularly challenging to model.

Six new species of Microdon Meigen from Madagascar (Diptera: Syrphidae).

Six new species of the myrmecophilous hoverfly genus Microdon Meigen (Diptera: Syrphidae) are described from Madagascar. Redescriptions are given for the three other Madagascan species of this genus. Keys are presented to the Madagascan genera of the subfamily Microdontinae and to the Madagascan species of Microdon.

Non-bee insects are important contributors to global crop pollination.

Wild and managed bees are well documented as effective pollinators of global crops of economic importance. However, the contributions by pollinators other than bees have been little explored despite their potential to contribute to crop production and stability in the face of environmental change. Non-bee pollinators include flies, beetles, moths, butterflies, wasps, ants, birds, and bats, among others.

Delivery of crop pollination services is an insufficient argument for wild pollinator conservation.

There is compelling evidence that more diverse ecosystems deliver greater benefits to people, and these ecosystem services have become a key argument for biodiversity conservation. However, it is unclear how much biodiversity is needed to deliver ecosystem services in a cost-effective way. Here we show that, while the contribution of wild bees to crop production is significant, service delivery is restricted to a limited subset of all known bee species.

Museum specimens reveal loss of pollen host plants as key factor driving wild bee decline in The Netherlands.

Evidence for declining populations of both wild and managed bees has raised concern about a potential global pollination crisis. Strategies to mitigate bee loss generally aim to enhance floral resources. However, we do not really know whether loss of preferred floral resources is the key driver of bee decline because accurate assessment of host plant preferences is difficult, particularly for species that have become rare.

Generic revision and species classification of the Microdontinae (Diptera, Syrphidae).

With 552 species group names available (excluding misspellings), the Microdontinae constitute the smallest of the three subfamilies of Syrphidae. Paradoxically, this subfamily is taxonomically the least organized of the three: 388 species names were previously classified in a single genus, Microdon Meigen, 1803. The present paper introduces a new generic classification of the Microdontinae, relying partly on the results of phylogenetic analyses of morphological and molecular data as published in other papers, and partly on examination of primary type specimens of 347 taxa, plus additional material, and original descriptions.

Species richness declines and biotic homogenisation have slowed down for NW-European pollinators and plants.

Concern about biodiversity loss has led to increased public investment in conservation. Whereas there is a widespread perception that such initiatives have been unsuccessful, there are few quantitative tests of this perception. Here, we evaluate whether rates of biodiversity change have altered in recent decades in three European countries (Great Britain, Netherlands and Belgium) for plants and flower visiting insects.

Fit-for-purpose: species distribution model performance depends on evaluation criteria - Dutch Hoverflies as a case study.

Understanding species distributions and the factors limiting them is an important topic in ecology and conservation, including in nature reserve selection and predicting climate change impacts. While Species Distribution Models (SDM) are the main tool used for these purposes, choosing the best SDM algorithm is not straightforward as these are plentiful and can be applied in many different ways. SDM are used mainly to gain insight in 1) overall species distributions, 2) their past-present-future probability of occurrence and/or 3) to understand their ecological niche limits (also referred to as ecological niche modelling).