A checklist of the Syrphidae (Diptera) recorded from Finland. Three species of Syrphidae, Platycheirusmodestus Ide, 1926, Cheilosiabarovskii (Stackelberg, 1930) and Mallotatricolor Loew, 1871, are published as new to the Finnish fauna. Platycheirusmodestus is also new to the Palaearctic.

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.

Unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly called drones, are being increasingly used in ecological research, in particular to approach sensitive wildlife in inaccessible areas. Impact studies leading to recommendations for best practices are urgently needed. We tested the impact of drone colour, speed and flight angle on the behavioural responses of mallards Anas platyrhynchos in a semi-captive situat...

Descriptions are given of three new cryptic species of Merodon Meigen (Diptera: Syrphidae) from the island of Lesvos (Greece): Merodon latifemoris Radenković et Vujić n. sp. from the nigritarsis species group, Merodon pulveris Vujić et Radenković n. sp. from the natans species group and Merodon puniceus Vujić, Radenković et Pérez-Bañón n. sp. from the aureus species group. In addition to classi...

Syrphidae is one of the most speciose families of true flies, with more than 6,100 described species and worldwide distribution. They are important for humans acting as crucial pollinators, biological control agents, decomposers, and bioindicators. One third of its diversity is found in the Neotropical Region, but the taxonomic knowledge for this region is incomplete. Thus, taxonomic revisions ...

Pollination is one of the most important ecosystem services and bees the most important pollinators. As a population decline of bees has been documented in numerous regions of the world, it is crucial to develop understanding on other possible pollinators. Here, we study the potential pollination impact of Diptera, and among them Empidinae, in an alpine environment, where the abundance of bees ...

Toxomerus hauseri Mengual sp. n. and Toxomerus picudus Mengual sp. n. are described from Peru and Ecuador respectively. Toxomerus circumcintus (Enderlein, 1938) is treated as a valid species and not considered synonym of Toxomerus marginatus, and Toxomerus ovatus (Hull, 1942) is considered junior synonym of Toxomerus nitidus (Schiner, 1868). An identification key for the Toxomerus species with ...

The diversity of hoverflies in five different habitats of the Parque Estadual de Vila Velha, Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brazil, from September 1999 to August 2002 was studied. These five areas had been exposed to various types of anthropogenic disturbance at different times, which resulted in different stages of plant succession. In total, 2,841 specimens of 151 species of Syrphidae were collected u...