Chapter 9 Biodiversity of Diptera
Chapter 9 Biodiversity of Diptera Gregory W. Courtney1, Thomas Pape2, Jeffrey H. Skevington3, and Bradley J. Sinclair4 1 Department of Entomology, 432 Science II, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011 USA 2 Natural History Museum of Denmark, Zoological Museum, Universitetsparken 15, DK – 2100 Copenhagen Denmark 3 Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodes, K.W. Neatby Building, 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C6 Canada 4 Entomology – Ontario Plant Laboratories, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, K.W. Neatby Building, 960 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0C6 Canada Insect Biodiversity: Science and Society, 1st edition. Edited by R. Foottit and P. Adler © 2009 Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4051-5142-9 185 he Diptera, commonly called true flies or other organic materials that are liquified or can be two-winged flies, are a familiar group of dissolved or suspended in saliva or regurgitated fluid T insects that includes, among many others, (e.g., Calliphoridae, Micropezidae, and Muscidae). The black flies, fruit flies, horse flies, house flies, midges, adults of some groups are predaceous (e.g., Asilidae, and mosquitoes. The Diptera are among the most Empididae, and some Scathophagidae), whereas those diverse insect orders, with estimates of described of a few Diptera (e.g., Deuterophlebiidae and Oestridae) richness ranging from 120,000 to 150,000 species lack mouthparts completely, do not feed, and live for (Colless and McAlpine 1991, Schumann 1992, Brown onlyabrieftime. 2001, Merritt et al. 2003). Our world tally of more As holometabolous insects that undergo complete than 152,000 described species (Table 9.1) is based metamorphosis, the Diptera have a life cycle that primarily on figures extracted from the ‘BioSystematic includes a series of distinct stages or instars.
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