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Insects
Special Issues
Systematics, Taxonomy and Biodiversity of Sciaridae (Diptera)
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Systematics, Taxonomy and Biodiversity of Sciaridae (Diptera)

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Insect Systematics, Phylogeny and Evolution".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 5567

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Pekka Vilkamaa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Finnish Museum of Natural History, FI-00100 Helsinki, Finland
Interests: Sciaridae; Diptera; systematics; phylogeny
Dr. Jukka Salmela

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Regional Museum of Lapland, Pohjoisranta 4, FI‐96200 Rovaniemi, Finland
Interests: biodiversity and taxonomy; Diptera; Sciaroidea; Culicomorpha; Tipulomorpha; aquatic insects

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Lower dipteran family Sciaridae (Bibionomorpha, Sciaroidea) is a notoriously challenging insect group in terms of its systematics due to the small size and morphological similarity of species. The current state of knowledge of the family lags far behind its importance in overall insect biodiversity.

The known number of species is about 3000, mostly described in the Palaearctic region. The current knowledge indicates that at least ten times more species than this exist in the fauna worldwide, and the rapidly accumulating data of DNA barcodes anticipate even higher diversity. In its mere magnitude, this tremendous species diversity is a challenge for taxonomists but also offers an intriguing possibility to discover and document undescribed morphological forms representing new genera. Regarding biogeography, for large areas of the Earth, we completely lack knowledge of their sciarid fauna, and it is necessary to intensify biosystematic research in all regions. Moreover, if we have a better understanding of the morphology and if we use rapidly developing molecular techniques, it is possible to assess the phylogenetic relationships between taxa ever more reliably.

This Special Issue aims to encourage high-quality, original research on a wide scale of systematics of Sciaridae: morphology, descriptive taxonomy, DNA barcoding, revisions, phylogenetics and various aspects of biodiversity.

Dr. Pekka Vilkamaa
Dr. Jukka Salmela
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Diptera
  • Sciaridae
  • systematics
  • taxonomy
  • revisions
  • morphology
  • DNA barcoding
  • phylogeny
  • faunistics
  • biodiversity

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 3790 KiB  
Article
Review of the Genus Sciara Meigen, 1803 (Diptera, Sciaridae) in Ukraine
by Andriy Babytskiy, Serhii Pavliuk and Olesia Bezsmertna
Insects 2023, 14(9), 732; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14090732 - 30 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1125
Abstract
On the territory of Ukraine during the field seasons 2015–2022, we collected eight Sciara species—S. analis Schiner, 1864, S. flavimana Zetterstedt, 1851, S. hebes (Loew, 1869), S. helvola Winnertz, 1867, S. hemerobioides (Scopoli, 1763), S. humeralis Zetterstedt, 1851, S. incerta Winnertz, 1867 [...] Read more.
On the territory of Ukraine during the field seasons 2015–2022, we collected eight Sciara species—S. analis Schiner, 1864, S. flavimana Zetterstedt, 1851, S. hebes (Loew, 1869), S. helvola Winnertz, 1867, S. hemerobioides (Scopoli, 1763), S. humeralis Zetterstedt, 1851, S. incerta Winnertz, 1867 and S. ruficauda Meigen, 1818. All specimens are kept in the collections of the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology NAS of Ukraine (SIZK). According to the results of our research, the four species S. flavimana, S. hebes, S. helvola and S. incerta are being registered for the first time in Ukraine. New localities are given for S. analis, S. hemerobioides, S. humeralis and S. ruficauda. The distribution, morphological peculiarities, ecology and phenology of registered species are also briefly discussed. A key to 12 European Sciara species is given. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Systematics, Taxonomy and Biodiversity of Sciaridae (Diptera))
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18 pages, 4325 KiB  
Article
Northern Richness, Southern Dead End—Origin and Dispersal Events of Pseudolycoriella (Sciaridae, Diptera) between New Zealand’s Main Islands
by Arne Köhler and Thomas Schmitt
Insects 2023, 14(6), 548; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14060548 - 12 Jun 2023
Viewed by 1569
Abstract
Sciaridae (Diptera) is a widespread insect family of which some species can reach high abundances in arboreal habitats. This trait, together with their (passive) mobility, enables them to quickly colonise suitable habitats. To reveal the biogeographic history of the New Zealand members of [...] Read more.
Sciaridae (Diptera) is a widespread insect family of which some species can reach high abundances in arboreal habitats. This trait, together with their (passive) mobility, enables them to quickly colonise suitable habitats. To reveal the biogeographic history of the New Zealand members of the sciarid genus Pseudolycoriella, we analysed three molecular markers of selected species and populations in a Bayesian approach. At the intra- and interspecific levels, we detected a pattern of northern richness vs. southern purity, which has probably developed as a result of Pleistocene glacial cycles. Since the late Miocene, we identified 13 dispersal events across the sea strait separating New Zealand’s main islands. As nine of these dispersal events were south-directed, North Island can be considered the centre of radiation for this genus. An unequivocal re-colonisation of North Island was only observed once. Based on the inclusion of three undescribed species from Tasmania and on previously published data, three colonisations of New Zealand are likely, all of them assumed to be of Australian origin. One of these most probably took place during the late Miocene, and the other two during the late Pliocene or at the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Systematics, Taxonomy and Biodiversity of Sciaridae (Diptera))
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21 pages, 9035 KiB  
Article
The Genus Spinopygina gen. nov. (Diptera, Sciaridae) from Western North America: Preliminary Molecular Phylogeny and Description of Seven New Species
by Pekka Vilkamaa, Nikola Burdíková and Jan Ševčík
Insects 2023, 14(2), 173; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects14020173 - 9 Feb 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2029
Abstract
The genus Spinopygina gen. nov. (type species Camptochaeta uniceps Hippa & Vilkamaa, 1994) from western North America is described. The genus includes the following eight species: Spinopygina acerfalx sp. nov.; S. aurifera sp. nov.; S. camura sp. nov.; S. edura sp. nov.; S. [...] Read more.
The genus Spinopygina gen. nov. (type species Camptochaeta uniceps Hippa & Vilkamaa, 1994) from western North America is described. The genus includes the following eight species: Spinopygina acerfalx sp. nov.; S. aurifera sp. nov.; S. camura sp. nov.; S. edura sp. nov.; S. peltata sp. nov.; S. plena sp. nov.; S. quadracantha sp. nov.; and S. uniceps (Hippa & Vilkamaa, 1994) comb. nov., transferred from Corynoptera Winnertz. The new species are described and Spinopygina uniceps is re-diagnosed. The species are keyed and illustrated. In the maximum-likelihood phylogenetic hypothesis based on four gene fragments (28S, 18S, 16S and COI), Spinopygina gen. nov. appears as the sister group of Claustropyga Hippa, Vilkamaa & Mohrig, 2003. In the same analysis, a remarkable, undescribed species is placed within Camptochaeta Hippa & Vilkamaa clade. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Systematics, Taxonomy and Biodiversity of Sciaridae (Diptera))
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