A CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIODIVERSITY OF SYRPHIDAE ( DIPTERA ) IN SPAIN

Data are provided on two hoverfly species new to the Iberian Peninsula, Brachyopa grunewaldensis Kassebeer and Criorhina floccosa (Meigen), and one new to Spain, Eumerus consimilis Šimić & Vujić. New habitat and breeding data are presented.


INTRODUCTION
Since the Monograph on the Syrphidae of Spain by Gil-Collado (1930), who recognized fewer than 200 species as occurring in Spain, hoverfly studies did not advance in this country until the early 1980s (Marcos-García, 1981).The most recent hoverfly checklist for Spain lists 355 species (Marcos-García et al., 2002).Further research carried out since publication of the checklist has added at least 37 species (Ricarte et al., in prep.).The continuing discoveries of hoverflies new to Spain (e.g.Marcos-García et al., 2007, 2011;Ricarte and Marcos-García, 2010;Ricarte et al., 2010) demonstrate that Spain's hoverfly biodiversity is remarkable but still not fully known.
In hoverflies, faunistic studies are relevant to the use of conservation tools like the StN Database of European Syrphidae (Speight et al., 2010;Monteil, 2010); regional species lists are required for this tool to give optimal results (Speight and Castella, 2001).
In the present study, data is provided on three hoverfly species new to the Iberian Peninsula or Spain.
All specimens are deposited in the entomological collections of the University of Alicante (CEUA), Spain.Species data are presented below.1♂ and 3♀, 28.ii-31.iii.2009, 1♂ and 3♀, 31.iii-23. iv.2009 Remarks -B.grunewaldensis can be distinguished from other species of the Brachyopa bicolor group by lacking dark, undusted spots at the inner ends of the transverse suture of the mesoscutum, having a scutellum largely covered in microtrichia, having at least some pale hairs on the notopleuron and, in the median 3/5 of the mediotergite (below subscutellum) the pollinosity is restricted to the upper margin (Doczkal and Dziock, 2004).

Brachyopa grunewaldensis
B. grunewaldensis is a poorly known species with scattered records in Europe, possibly due to its recent description.In the present study, all the material of Brachyopa insensilis Collin, 1939 examined in Ricarte et al. (2006) has been re-identified as B. grunewaldensis, except for the specimens from Burgos (not accessible to the authors of the present study) and a male of the real B. insensilis bearing the following label data: Barcelona, Sta.Mª de Palautordera, col-lected by hand net on Euphorbia flowers, 10.v.1989, leg.and det.AMG.Thus, the presence of Brachyopa insensilis Collin, 1939 in the Iberian Peninsula has been confirmed.Brachyopa pilosa Collin, 1939 is also recorded in Spain, province of Guipúzcoa (Carles-Tolrá, 2009).
In Cabañeros National Park, B. grunewaldensis was found in acidophilus Quercus forests and Fraxinus forests, both with mature trees.Trapped adults emerged from trunk holes of F. angustifolia, Q. pyrenaica and Q. faginea.These data provide the first known hoverfly/tree association information for B. grunewaldensis.Brachyopa larvae are usually recorded from sap runs (Rotheray, 1994).Because B. grunewaldensis adults emerged from tree holes in Cabañeros, their larvae were likely to be feeding on sap runs inside the holes.Perhaps, sap-dependent hoverflies such as Brachyopa avoid exposed sap runs in Mediterranean ecosystems because they are more ephemeral due to the climatic conditions.1♀, 28.ii-31. iii.2009, 6♀, 23.iv-27.v.2009.

Criorhina floccosa (Meigen
Remarks -Although C. floccosa is widespread in the Palaearctic region and a relatively large hoverfly (up to 15 mm (Speight et al., 2010)), there were no published records from the Iberian Peninsula prior to the present study.In Quinto et al. (2012), C. floccosa was one of the species analyzed for studying ecological networks in the community of saproxylic insects from Cabañeros, but the material examined was not detailed for this species.The information provided in the present study therefore represents the first documented record of C. floccosa in the Iberian Peninsula.
In addition to the Cabañeros C. floccosa, a male of this species from another Spanish locality (Fig. 1) is known from two pictures on the web page Insectarium Virtual (www.biodiversidadvirtual.org/insectarium/details.php?image_id=336325 and www.biodiversidadvirtual.org/insectarium/details.php?image_id=336326).Pictures were made in a locality with riparian vegetation in the province of Teruel, Castellote, 30TYL22, 806 m asl, 1.v.2012.This male was identified by A. Ricarte and M. A. Marcos-García, who are registered as experts in Insectarium Virtual for identifying Syrphidae pictures on the grounds of an agreement between this web page and the Spanish Entomological Society (' Asociación española de Entomología').
In Cabañeros, C. floccosa was found in acidophilus Quercus forests with mature trees.This saproxylic species is known to breed in rot holes of Acer, Fagus and Ulmus (Speight, 2011).Results provided here represent the first breeding records from species of Quercus: Q. faginea and Q. pyrenaica.Šimić & Vujić, 1996 New to Spain Material examined -SPAIN, Zaragoza: 1♂, Pina de Ebro, Retuerta de Pina, 350m, UTM 30TYL, 27.94, Nr. 4012/23.ix.1991, leg. Blasco-Zumeta, det. as Eumerus Remarks -This is a poorly known species with scattered records in Europe, but recorded in both the Balkan and Iberian Peninsulas (Vujić and Šimić, 1999;van Eck, 2011).The biology of this species is also unknown, although it can be regarded as phytophagous/saprophagous, like other known Eumerus larvae (Ricarte et al., 2008).

Eumerus consimilis
Incorporating the species added in this note, the total number of hoverfly species recorded from Spain is 395.The conservation status of B. grunewaldensis is uncertain at European level (Speight et al., 2010).However, the larval microhabitat data provided in this study would be of key importance in establishing conservation strategies, if required.C. floccosa is unthreatened in Europe, but threatened or decreasing in several central and northern European countries (Speight et al., 2010); the maintenance of mature trees rich in rot holes is required for the survival of this saproxylic species.E. consimilis is regarded as decreasing both at European and regional levels (e.g.France, Germany) (Speight et al., 2010).This Eumerus species has been also recorded from several Portuguese localities near the coast (van Eck, 2011).The record presented here, from Zaragoza (northeast Spain, far from the sea), suggests that E. consimilis could be widespread in the Iberian Peninsula.However, the range and distribution of this and the other two studied species are insufficiently known and further conclusions on their conservation status seem unrealistic at this juncture.