IUCN SSC Specialist Group

2019 Report

Ante Vujic´ Francis Gilbert

Co-Chairs Mission statement Network A n t e V u j i c´ (1) The mission of the IUCN SSC Hoverfly Specialist Capacity building: hold a training workshop for Francis Gilbert (2) Group (HSG) is to accomplish the Red Listing 17 European Hoverfly experts to do Red List of European , and in so doing to assessments. Red List Authority Coordinator increase current knowledge of the , Membership: increase and balance member- Leendert-Jan van der Ent (3) ecology and distribution of European hoverflies, ship in terms of gender, age and geographic promoting their long-term conservation. location. Location/Affiliation Synergy: develop a network of institutions and (1) Faculty of Sciences (FOS), University Projected impact for the 2017-2020 individuals dealing with hoverflies. of Novi Sad, Serbia quadrennium Communicate (2) School of Life Sciences, University Park, By the end of 2020, we expect to have Communication: (1) develop guidelines for University of Nottingham, UK completed the Red Listing of a substantial the conservation management of Syrphidae (3) Informatics and Communication Academy, proportion of European hoverflies, drawing habitats; (2) establish an HSG communica- Hogeschool Arnhem and Nijmegen, together for the first time the European-wide tion platform among members; (3) establish Arhhem, Netherlands distribution and status of the . This will HSG social media accounts; (4) create an HSG identify critical sets of species on which Europe- logo; (5) promote awareness about hoverflies Number of members wide conservation efforts can be targeted, and through specialised and general social media; 25 promote the inclusion of hoverflies in conserva- (6) accomplish a photographic competition and tion planning and education. exhibition on syrphids. Social networks Facebook: IUCN Hoverfly Specialist Group Targets for the 2017-2020 quadrennium Activities and results 2019 Instagram: iucnhoverflysg Assess Assess Website: https://iucn-hsg.pmf.uns.ac.rs/ Red List: (1) assess a selection of 650 European Red List hoverfly species; (2) assess globally all species i. Two Red List assessment workshops of Euro- currently listed on existing national or regional pean hoverfly species (ca. 200 species) were Red Lists. held. The first workshop was in Lesvos (Greece) Research activities: (1) identify new Key Biodi- in September 2019, after the 10th Interna- versity Areas (KBA) according to IUCN stan- tional Syrphidae meeting, involving two of the dards; (2) stimulate research on the distribution eight working groups; the second was in Novi of particular species and threats affecting them; Sad (Serbia) in December 2019, involving two (3) produce publications about the conservation different working groups. (KSR #1) of hoverflies. Research activities Plan i. As species assessments are carried out, so Planning: develop conservation strategies for requests for information and help on particular threatened Syrphidae. species go out to the established network of syrphid workers. We presented the HSG at the 10th International Syrphidae Meeting; there are regular requests for data and help on particular species. (KSR #4, 7, 15, 21, 22, 26, 27) Merodon aberrans, Fruška Gora, Serbia Photo: Saric´ Bojan

Syrphus ribesii, Pasnjaci Photo: T. Tot

Eristalis arbustorum, Vlasina Photo: T. Tot

Plan Communicate Planning Communication i. Ante Vujic´ attended the Fourth SSC Leaders’ i. Development of a Hoverfly Specialist Group Meeting in Abu Dhabi, where the Ancient Tree communication platform among members is initiative was presented; Dr Martin Speight via an email group; we also employ document produced a document on over-mature trees. sharing via IUCN. (KSR #28, 43) We hope this can be used by IUCN to feed into ii. We have not used social media much yet; we modifications to various objectives, e.g. Natura have regular Facebook postings and notifica- 2000. We are involved in the Ancient Trees tions, and communicated information about the initiative of IUCN to press for changes to various Lesvos meeting. (KSR #28, 43) conservation targets. iii. An HSG logo is now available. (KSR #28, 43) Network iv. The HSG Co-Chairs gave interviews Capacity building published on the IUCN website to promote i. A workshop to train European hoverfly awareness about hoverflies. (KSR #28, 43) experts in Red Listing was held in Novi Sad, Serbia, in April 2019; 23 people were trained (13 Acknowledgements women, 10 men). (KSR #5) Via IUCN calls, one person (Andrea Aracil) Membership received funding to attend the 1st assessment i. We were very pleased that nearly everyone workshop. albostriatus, Vlasina who was asked agreed to join the HSG; we have Photo: T. Tot nearly all the top experts and we have achieved Summary of activities 2019 magnificent support in sharing data. We have twenty-six members (eight women, 18 men); Components of Species Conservation Cycle: 4/5 the ca. 1,000 species were divided into eight Assess 2 || groups; experts and assessors were assigned Plan 1 | for each group. Network 3 ||| Synergy Communicate 4 |||| i. The network of institutions and individ- Main KSRs addressed: 1, 4, 5, 7, 15, 21, 22, uals dealing with hoverflies is already very 26, 27, 28, 43 strong, a consequence of the regular Interna- KSR: Key Species Result tional Syrphidae meetings every two years; Red Listing has really been enabled because of existing cooperation, rather than the other way round. (KSR #28, 43)