CoNsErvaZioNE habitat iNvErtEbrati 5: 717–732 (2011) CNbfvr Chloropidae from southern Sardinia ( Diptera: * Cyclorrhapha, Acalyptratae) Emilia P. NARTSHuK Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Science, Universitetskaya nab. 1, 199034 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. E-mail: [email protected] *In: Nardi G., Whitmore D., Bardiani M., Birtele D., Mason F., Spada L. & Cerretti P. (eds), Biodiversity of Marganai and Montimannu (Sardinia). Research in the framework of the ICP Forests network. Conservazione Habitat Invertebrati, 5: 717–732. ABSTRACT An account is given of grassfl ies (Diptera: Chloropidae) collected in the region-owned forests of Marganai and Montimannu (Carbonia-Iglesias and Medio Campidano provinces, SW Sardinia). Thirty-six species are listed altogether: 30 from the subfamily Oscinellinae and 6 from the subfamily Chloropinae, together with information on their ecology and distribution. Two species of the genus Gaurax Loew, 1863 are left unnamed. Thirteen species are newly recorded for Sardinia, whereas two are newly recorded for Italy: Aphanotrigonum bicolor Nartshuk, 1964 and Tricimba cincta (Meigen, 1830). The Chloropidae fauna of Sardinia is compared with those of Corsica (France) and the Balearic Islands (Spain). Key words: Chloropidae, Italy, Sardinia, faunistics, new records. RIASSUNTO I Chloropidae della Sardegna meridionale (Diptera: Cyclorrhapha, Acalyptratae) È fornito un elenco dei Chloropidae (Diptera) raccolti nelle Foreste Demaniali di Marganai (Carbonia-Iglesias) e Montimannu (Medio Campidano) nel Sud-Ovest della Sardegna. Sono complessivamente elencate 36 specie (30 della sottofamiglia Oscinellinae e 6 della sottofamiglia Chloropinae) con informazioni sulla loro ecologia e distribuzione. Due specie del genere Gaurax Loew, 1863 sono lasciate indeterminate a livello di specie. Tredici specie sono segnalate per la prima volta per la Sardegna, mentre due lo sono per l'Italia: Aphanotrigonum bicolor Nartshuk, 1964 e Tricim- ba cincta (Meigen, 1830). La fauna a Chloropidae della Sardegna è comparata con quella della Corsica (Francia) e delle Isole Baleari (Spagna). INTRODuCTION The larvae of Chloropidae have various food habits (Ferrar 1987; Nartshuk 1987). The majority of the The Chloropidae are one of the largest (nearly 3,000 known Palaearctic species are phytophagous, liv- species in the World fauna) and best defi ned families ing in shoots or ears and seeds of graminoid herbs of acalyptrate Diptera, very small to small fl ies (usu- of the families Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Typhaceae and ally 1.5–5.0 mm long, sometimes reaching 8 mm), Juncaceae. A few of them are gall producers. Some black, grey, yellow or greenish in ground colour with phytophagous species are known as economic pests black or red stripes and markings. Body smooth, with of cereals. Many species are saprophagous, especially reduced setae. Chloropidae are found in all zoogeo- saprophytophagous; they feed on the frass of other graphical regions of the World, except in the Antarc- phytophagous insects, or on decaying vegetable mat- tic. They occur in all vegetation zones, from tundra ter. A few species have been bred from fungi or de- to rainforests, savannas, and deserts. Chloropidae are caying wood with mycelia. Carnivorous species are everywhere abundant, associated with grasslands and important as predators of root aphids or egg masses wetlands, and forming an important component of of spiders, mantids, acridids and moths. insect communities in meadows, swamps, marshes Most species of Chloropidae occur in large popula- and the herbaceous layer of forests. Some species are tions and play an important functional role in grass- very numerous in agricultural cereal fi elds (Ismay & land ecosystems. Many of them occupy specifi c habitat Nartshuk 2000). niches and can be used in bioindication and ecological 717 Emilia P. Nartshuk monitoring (Dabrowska-Prot 1987; Nartshuk 1998). Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg (Russia). The Chloropidae of Sardinia have never been the sub- ject of focused research. Costa (1883, 1884a, 1884b, Nomenclature and classification 1885, 1886, 1891), as part of his comprehensive study The classification and nomenclature used in the list of the terrestrial fauna of Sardinia, recorded six species, follow Nartshuk (1984, 2004) except Lasiambia two of which were described as new, and one of which albidipennis (Strobl, 1899), Lasiochaeta pubescens was left unnamed: Macrochaetum cornutum Fab. [sic!] (Thalhammer, 1898) and Lasiosina herpini (Guérin- (now Elachiptera cornuta (Fallén, 1820)), from Porto Méneville, 1843). Torres, Eurina ducalis A. Costa, 1885 from Cagliari, Chlorops fuscipennis A. Costa, 1883 from Isola Piana Faunistic list (now a synonym of Capnoptera scutata (Rossi, 1790)), Within each subfamily, genera are listed in alphabeti- Camarota flavitarsis Meigen, 1830 (now C. curvipennis cal order, and so are species within each genus. Re- (Latreille, 1805)) from Tissi, and Meromyza sp. from cords are listed alphabetically according to abbrevia- Tempio [Pausania]. Corti (1909) confirmed records tion of collecting site. for Elachiptera cornuta (as Crassiseta cornuta) in his Literature records are provided for some species review of Italian Elachiptera Macquart, 1835 species. where available, most being generic records for Sar- Leonardi (1927: 507, as Chlorops taeniopa Meig.) listed dinia provided in the Italian checklist by Canzone- old records of Chlorops pumilionis (Bjerkander, 1778) ri et al. (1995) or in Fauna Europaea by Nartshuk from Cagliari. Of these species, only Camarota curvi- (2004). The species marked * are new to Sardinia, pennis was collected during the present survey. Can- those marked ** are new to Italy. zoneri et al. (1995) recorded 184 species of Chloropi- dae from Italy, 36 of which from Sardinia. Nartshuk Zoogeography (2004) listed a total of 38 species from the island, and The chorotypes used are those proposed by Vigna recently described three new species based on part of Taglianti et al. (1999), based on distributions provid- the material treated in the present contribution (Nart- ed in the chapter on Chloropidae of the Catalogue shuk 2009a). of Palaearctic Diptera (Nartshuk 1984), Fauna Euro- In the present paper, a list is presented of 36 species of paea (Nartshuk 2004) and some subsequent unpub- Chloropidae collected during the period 2003–2006 lished data in the author's possession. by researchers of the Centro Nazionale per lo Studio e la Conservazione della Biodiversità Forestale "Bo- sco Fontana" of Verona (Italy) (CNBFVR), mainly in ABBREVIATIONS the areas of Marganai and Montimannu (respectively Carbonia-Iglesias and Medio Campidano province, samPliNg sitEs. A01 = Medio Campidano prov., Arbus, Piscinas, SW Sardinia) and other localities of SW Sardinia 32S 452927 4376897; A04 = Oristano prov., Arborea, Stagno di (Bardiani 2011). Further information on the main s'Ena Arrubia, 32S 462842 4408878; A06 = Carbonia-Iglesias study area can be found in Mason et al. (2006), An- prov., Buggerru, Cala Domestica, 32S 446540 4358436; A21 gius et al. (2011), and Bardiani (2011). = Oristano prov., Terralba, Stagno di Marceddì, 32S 457917 4397594; C01 = Carbonia-Iglesias prov., Iglesias, Case Mar- ganai, 756 m, 32S 463890 4355925; C03 = Carbonia-Igle- MATERIAL AND METHODS sias prov., Iglesias, Vecchia Cantoniera Marganai, 491 m, 32S 462272 4354677; C11 = Medio Campidano prov., Villacidro, Data collection Canali Serci, 381 m, 32S 472208 4359497; C14 = Carbonia- This paper is based on material part of a survey on Iglesias prov., Domusnovas, Sedda Pranu Cardu, 549 m, 32S the arthropod biota of this region (see Mason et al. 470926 4358924; C18 = Medio Campidano prov., Villacidro, 2006; Cerretti et al. 2009; Bardiani 2011). Most Rio Cannisoni, 390 m, 32S 469095 4362383; C19 = Me- Chloropidae were collected in 2006 from March dio Campidano prov., Villacidro, Rio Cannisoni, 375 m, 32S through November, with Malaise traps and sweep 468713 4362692; C24 = Medio Campidano prov., Villacidro, nets. Other collecting methods included light traps clearing near Rio Cannisoni, 463 m, 32S 468463 4363150; and pitfall traps. Specimens collected in 70% ethanol C26 = Carbonia-Iglesias prov., Domusnovas, Bega d'Aleni, 621 were kept in such medium, while specimens collected m, 32S 467855 4361336; C31 = Carbonia-Iglesias prov., Do- with sweep nets were generally dry-pinned. Most part musnovas, Lago Siuru, 322 m, 32S 467069 4357916; C34 = of material is kept in the insect collection of CNB- Carbonia-Iglesias prov., Rio Sa Duchessa (dry riverbed), 270 m, FVR and a part in Zoological institute of Russian 32S 466700 4356979; C35 = Carbonia-Iglesias prov., Iglesias, 718 ChloroPidaE from southErN sardiNia (diPtEra: CyClorrhaPha, aCalyPtrataE) Mamenga, 610 m, 32S 462170 4356618; C36 = Medio Cam- Chorotype. Centralasiatic-European-Mediterranean. pidano prov., near Lago di Montimannu, 256 m, 32S 474156 ECology. Adults usually occur in dry meadows and 4363150; C49 = Medio Campidano prov., Villacidro, Torrente on sandy beaches; the larvae are phytophagous. Von Leni, 300 m, 32S 471317 4360510; C50 = Medio Campidano Tschirnhaus (1981) recorded Puccinellia maritima prov., Villacidro, C. Sarais, 251 m, 32S 474215 4361145; C60 and Festuca rubra as host plants in Germany. = Carbonia-Iglesias prov., Domusnovas, dint. Gutturu Abis, 580 m, 32S 0468140 4360761; C70 = Carbonia-Iglesias prov., 3. Aphanotrigonum lanceolatum Nartshuk, 2009 Iglesias, Marganai, near Case Marganai, 660 m, 32S 0463341 4556196; C82 = Carbonia-Iglesias prov.,