Heikki Hippa

Definition and revision of the Enoplognatha ovata (Clerck) group (Araneae: Theridiidae)

The monophyletic Enoplognatha ovata group is defined on the basis of the following synapomorphic characters: subapical first metatarsal trichobothrium, sclerotized and modified apex of the conductor in the male palpal bulbus, and strongly developed copulatory pockets in the female vulva. In the group the male conductor and the female epigynal openings together with the copulatory pockets form a coadapted functional unit which might prevent interspecific copulation. The hitherto known range of the group covers the western Palaearctic and, apparently through recent introduction by man, the eastern and western Nearctic. Three species are included: E. ovata (Clerck) (Palaearctic, Nearctic), E. latimana n. sp. (southern Middle Europe, Nearctic) and E. penelope n. sp. (Mediterranean). The characteristics of the species are described and discussed both at the individual and population levels.

Remarkable fly (Diptera) diversity in a patch of Costa Rican cloud forest: Why inventory is a vital science

Study of all flies (Diptera) collected for one year from a four-hectare (150 x 266 meter) patch of cloud forest at 1,600 meters above sea level at Zurquí de Moravia, San José Province, Costa Rica (hereafter referred to as Zurquí), revealed an astounding 4,332 species. This amounts to more than half the number of named species of flies for all of Central America. Specimens were collected with two Malaise traps running continuously and with a wide array of supplementary collecting methods for three days of each month. All morphospecies from all 73 families recorded were fully curated by technicians before submission to an international team of 59 taxonomic experts for identification.xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0 Overall, a Malaise trap on the forest edge captured 1,988 species or 51% of all collected dipteran taxa (other than of Phoridae, subsampled only from this and one other Malaise trap). A Malaise trap in the forest sampled 906 species. Of other sampling methods, the combination of four other Malaise traps and an intercept trap, aerial/hand collecting, 10 emergence traps, and four CDC light traps added the greatest number of species to our inventory. This complement of sampling methods was an effective combination for retrieving substantial numbers of species of Diptera. Comparison of select sampling methods (considering 3,487 species of non-phorid Diptera) provided further details regarding how many species were sampled by various methods.xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0 Comparison of species numbers from each of two permanent Malaise traps from Zurquí with those of single Malaise traps at each of Tapantí and Las Alturas, 40 and 180 km distant from Zurquí respectively, suggested significant species turnover. Comparison of the greater number of species collected in all traps from Zurquí did not markedly change the degree of similarity between the three sites, although the actual number of species shared did increase.xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0 Comparisons of the total number of named and unnamed species of Diptera from four hectares at Zurquí is equivalent to 51% of all flies named from Central America, greater than all the named fly fauna of Colombia, equivalent to 14% of named Neotropical species and equal to about 2.7% of all named Diptera worldwide. Clearly the number of species of Diptera in tropical regions has been severely underestimated and the actual number may surpass the number of species of Coleoptera.xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0 Various published extrapolations from limited data to estimate total numbers of species of larger taxonomic categories (e.g., Hexapoda, Arthropoda, Eukaryota, etc.) are highly questionable, and certainly will remain uncertain until we have more exhaustive surveys of all and diverse taxa (like Diptera) from multiple tropical sites.xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0 Morphological characterization of species in inventories provides identifications placed in the context of taxonomy, phylogeny, form, and ecology. DNA barcoding species is a valuable tool to estimate species numbers but used alone fails to provide a broader context for the species identified.

A review of the South Pacific Manota Williston (Diptera, Mycetophilidae), with the description of thirteen new species.

The genus Manota is found to consist of 37 species in the South Pacific region. The following 13 species are described as new: M. acris sp. n. (Papua New Guinea (PNG)), M. alulata sp. n. (PNG), M. apentachaeta sp. n. (PNG), M. clivicola sp. n. (PNG), M. cordata sp. n. (PNG), M. feminea sp. n. (PNG), M. kaindiensis sp. n. (PNG), M. lunata sp. n. (PNG), M. nimia sp. n. (Solomon Is.), M. pentachaeta sp. n. (PNG), M. siciliculata sp. n. (PNG), M. sigma sp. n. (PNG) and M. unisetata sp. n. (Solomon Is.). New records of the following 11 species are presented: M. bicuspis Hippa, 2007 (PNG, Solomon Is.), M. biunculata Hippa, 2007 (PNG), M. evexa Hippa, 2007 (PNG), M. explicans Hippa, 2007 (PNG), M. hamulata Colless, 1966 (PNG), M. pacifica Edwards, 1928 (Samoa), M. parilis Hippa, 2007 (PNG, Vanuatu), M. perissochaeta Hippa, 2007 (PNG), M. serawei Hippa, 2007 (PNG), M. spathula Hippa, 2007 (PNG) and M. subspathula Hippa, 2007 (Australia). The latter is the first described species of Manota recorded from continental Australia. A redescription of M. pacifica Edwards, 1928 is given.

Comprehensive inventory of true flies (Diptera) at a tropical site

Estimations of tropical insect diversity generally suffer from lack of known groups or faunas against which extrapolations can be made, and have seriously underestimated the diversity of some taxa. Here we report the intensive inventory of a four-hectare tropical cloud forest in Costa Rica for one year, which yielded 4332 species of Diptera, providing the first verifiable basis for diversity of a major group of insects at a single site in the tropics. In total 73 families were present, all of which were studied to the species level, providing potentially complete coverage of all families of the order likely to be present at the site. Even so, extrapolations based on our data indicate that with further sampling, the actual total for the site could be closer to 8000 species. Efforts to completely sample a site, although resource-intensive and time-consuming, are needed to better ground estimations of world biodiversity based on limited sampling.Brian Brown et al. report the results of the Zurquí All Diptera Biodiversity Inventory project, one of the largest efforts to date to directly assess species richness of a megadiverse order of insects. The authors identified 41,001 flies to 4332 species, including 73 of the worlds 160 Diptera families.

The genus Manota Williston (Diptera: Mycetophilidae) in Peruvian Amazonia, with description of sixteen new species and notes on local species richness

A comprehensive study of material of the worldwide fungus gnat genus Manota Williston, sampled from the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve in Peruvian Amazonia, was conducted. The following 16 species are described as new: M. aligera sp. n., M. aristoseta sp. n., M. calva sp. n., M. ciliata sp. n., M. exigua sp. n., M. digitata sp. n., M. flabellata sp. n., M. iquitosensis sp. n., M. limulata sp. n., M. micella sp. n., M. minutula sp. n., M. nuda sp. n., M. parvula sp. n., M. pauloides sp. n., M. pustulosa sp. n. and M. serrulata sp. n. In addition, the following 16 species are recorded: M. acuminata Jaschhof & Hippa, 2005, M. acutistylus Jaschhof & Hippa, 2005, M. anfracta Hippa & Kurina, 2013, M. appendiculata Hippa & Kurina, 2013, M. aristata Hippa & Kurina, 2013, M. bisulca Hippa & Kurina, 2013, M. diversiseta Jaschhof & Hippa, 2005, M. iota Hippa & Kurina, 2013, M. micula Hippa & Kurina, 2013, M. papillosa Hippa & Kurina, 2013, M. paula Hippa & Kurina, 2013, M. penicillata Jaschhof & Hippa, 2005, M. pisinna Hippa & Kurina, 2013, M. quantula Hippa & Kurina, 2013, M. spinosa Jaschhof & Hippa, 2005 and M. virgata Hippa & Kurina, 2013. Altogether 67 species of Manota are now known from the Neotropical region.

The genus Macrozelima Stackelberg (Diptera: Syrphidae)

The genus Macrozelima is re-characterized and placed among the genera Valdivia, Odyneromyia, Temnostoma, Takaomyia, Syrittosyrphus, Palumbia, Pterallastes, Stilbosoma, Hemixylota, Teuchocnemis, Spilomyia, Milesia, and Pogonosyrphus in Milesiinae, Milesiini. Macrozelima scripta from Burma is described as a new species in the genus.

A contribution to the systematics of the genus Manota Williston (Diptera: Mycetophilidae) in Brazil

A total of 286 male specimens of Manota from 38 different collecting sites in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest were analysed. They belong to 32 different species, including 20 described as new to science and 12 recognized as previously described species. The new species are M. abbreviata sp. n., M. atlantica sp. n., M. carioca sp. n., M. cavata sp. n., M. hirta sp. n., M. lamasi sp. n., M. lanei sp. n., M. nordestina sp. n., M. oliveirai sp. n., M. paniculata sp. n., M. papaveroi sp. n., M. periotoi sp. n., M. perparva sp. n., M. pseudoiota sp. n., M. rostrata sp. n., M. sanctavirginae sp. n., M. securiculata sp.n., M. silvai sp. n., M. tavaresi sp. n. and M. unispinata sp. n. The taxonomic context of the newly described species is discussed. Manota palpalis Lane, 1948, the type of which is considered lost, is redescribed and discussed, based on the original description, the original illustrations, and the type-locality. Our specimens of the previously described species belong to M. aligera Hippa, Kurina Sääksjärvi, 2017, M. anfracta Hippa Kurina, 2013, M. appendiculata Hippa Kurina, 2013, M. caribica Jaschhof Hippa, 2005, M. diversiseta Jaschhof Hippa, 2005, M. micula Hippa Kurina, 2013, M. panda Hippa Kurina, 2013, M. pustulosa Hippa, Kurina Sääksjärvi, 2017, M. quantula Hippa Kurina, 2013, M. serrulata Hippa, Kurina Sääksjärvi, 2017 and M. subaristata Kurina, Hippa Amorim, 2017. Among the species dealt with here, ten have a wide distribution in South America or the Neotropics, six are known from only a single site, nine are widespread along the Atlantic Forest, and seven are known only from southern Brazil/northwestern Argentina. A discrepancy between the distribution patterns of Manota species and the general areas of endemism known for flies in the Atlantic Forest is discussed, and a non-destructive sequencing reverse workflow protocol for Manota specimens proposed.xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0xa0 Including the species described here, the Neotropical region closely approaches the Oriental region in terms of the number of described species (92 and 102, respectively), while the genus now includes 300 species worldwide.

Notes on Oriental and East Palaearctic Manota Williston (Diptera, Mycetophilidae), with the description of seven new species

The following new species of Manota are described: M. adunca (Taiwan), M. incilis (Nepal), M. integra (China), M. mitrata (China), M. nepalensis (Nepal), M. tayal (Taiwan) and M. vesca (Philippines). New records of the following species are given: M. acutangula Hippa (China, Taiwan), M. curvistylus Hippa, Kjærandsen and Saigusa (China), M. oblonga Hippa (China), M. perlobata Hippa (China) and M. planilobata Hippa (China). Characters of the Chinese material of M. curvistylus are discussed and drawings of the hypopygium of a Chinese specimen are given.

New species of Claustropyga Hippa, Vilkamaa & Mohrig (Diptera, Sciaridae) from the Holarctic region

The following four new species are described: Claustropyga clavulata sp. n. (Canada), C. lobigera sp. n. (Finland), C. modica sp. n. (Finland) and C. stupenda sp. n. (Canada, Russia). A fifth, probably new species is briefly discussed. Claustropyga stupenda has spectacular morphological characters in its hypopygium. There are now 23 species in Claustropyga.

The genera Orthoprosopa Macquart and Paratropidia Hull (Diptera: Syrphidae), with a description of P. pacifica n. sp

The differences and similarities of the genera Orthoprosopa and Paratropidia and the existing cladogenetic problems in their classification are discussed. The distinction between the genera is retained, despite the apparent paraphylety of Paratropidia. Paratropidia pacifica n. sp. is described from New Caledonia. The species belongs to a common group together with P. alex Thompson and P. margarita Thompson. The male genitalia of O. grisea (Walker), P. bilineata (Walker), and P. pacifica are figured.