CANPOLIN– Current Canadian Research on Diptera Pollinators

Chrysomya megacephala S. Nelson, Bugguide

Jeffrey H. Skevington, Stephen A. Marshall Diptera Pollinators

• Many groups of pollinator • Most projects on Syrphidae • Also Calliphoridae, Conopidae, Bombyliidae • Canadian Syrphidae collections partly databased • 12000 images of flies available for key building Flower keys - CJAI • Miranda, Young, Locke, Skevington, Marshall & Thompson • Starting with a generic key • Not necessarily dichotomous

• Richly illustrated • To be followed by modular keys • Will ultimately enable ID of all Nearctic species via microscope Review of New World Sericomyia

• Large, distinctive flies • Commonly caught on flowers • Last key by Curran (1937) is obsolete • Colour plates of all species • Maps, new key, phylogeny, new species • Submitted to The Canadian Entomologist (Skevington & Thompson) Review of Nearctic Platycheirus • Young, Marshall & Skevington • Male robust, but key is difficult to use (75 species) • Females cannot be identified • Associating males & females with morphology & COI • Will attempt to find characters for females and provide key • Will also provide online key to both sexes in an attempt to make group more accessible Revision of New World

• Locke, Skevington & Marshall • 10 valid NE species currently • Two conflicting sets of species concepts • Testing these with COI and ITS2 data • Many cryptic species in the venustus group • 31 species • Morphological characters subtle Revision of New World Ocyptamus

• Miranda, Marshall & Skevington • Nearly 400 species • Genus not monophyletic • Explore phylogeny of species groups with multiple genes and morphology • Propose new classification • Revise species groups one by one (starting with tristis group) Revision of Nearctic Chrysotoxum • Skevington and Sommaggio • 23 Nearctic names, 13 valid species, 2 new species • Added new morphological characters and molecular data • Checked all types • Completed a (hopefully) workable key Blow Fly key

• Published in CJAI • Includes key to subfamilies, genera and species of 3 subfamilies • Includes eastern taxa only Pollenia review

• All introduced species • Important pollinators, particularly in early spring Pollenia sp. M Erbland, Bugguide • Earthworm predators • Unknown impact on native pollinators

Pollenia sp. C. Eiseman, Bugguide Other Fly Families Bombyliidae • Kits & Marshall published key to eastern species in CJAI Conopidae • Pollinators as well as bee parasitoids • Several publications on phylogeny and hilltopping • Planned key to eastern species in CJAI Field guide to Syrphidae of NE North America • Working on this for 3 years • 401 species • Using best models from published field guides • Colour photos, maps, and brief notes on each species • Preliminary pages on the web (www.canacoll.org) for feedback Page Samples Databasing Syrphidae

• Inventory of CNC Diptera complete • 34,771 Nearctic Syrphidae databased at CNC (~25% of Nearctic specimens) • 2,377 (all) specimens databased at University of Alberta • Part of collection databased at Univ. of Guelph • 10,216 specimens databased at ROME • Ongoing work at Univ. of Manitoba and in Nova Scotia collections Databasing • Database used for most of the typical things: – Producing material examined lists – Exploring phenology – Examining geographical patterns – Linkage of specimens with photos, tissue collection, molecular data, etc. (vouchering) • Planning to work with Kerr lab (WG7) to produce predictive maps of current distribution and species distribution change over time Dasysyrphus venustus complex Flower Fly Assessments

• Preparation of Rankings for all Syrphidae to highlight species at risk • For all (~550) Canadian species • Extracting data from databasing effort Ecology and conservation of Eristalis brousii

• Gone from most of eastern North America • Declined rapidly with advance of E. arbustorum • Last record in PA 1895, last in MA 1898 (n = 332) Summary • Disappearance of E. brousii linked to hybridization • mtDNA replaced by selective sweeps? • In the north, E. brousii is clinging to existence in coastal barrens • Climate change may threaten this last stronghold • Efforts to conserve E. brousii should likely focus on the far northern edge of its range and in montane habitats above the elevational range of E. arbustorum Building a COI database

• Will remove borders from taxonomy • Will allow identification of all life stages and association of sexes • Useful tool to assist with revisionary systematics • Provides an additional dataset for phylogenetic analyses Pollinator Identification Course • First course held at CNC in 2010 • Second course anticipated in 2012 • 5 days for bees • 5 days for syrphids Work in Urban Ecosystems • Urban pollinators and green corridors • Ottawa outreach & zoning laws • Encouraging the use of native plants • Extend natural areas and create more corridors Acknowledgements • Photos from Bugguide, Flick’r, Steve Marshall, Angela Skevington