FLIES - Diptera of Southern Africa's Journal

October 9, 2023

The PINDIP Network

https://www.pindip.org/

The “Pollinator Information Network for Two-Winged Insects” (PINDIP) addresses the role of Diptera in plant-pollination in the Afrotropical Region. It does so, by creating a network for Diptera taxonomists and plant-insect interaction ecologists. For instance, several important Afrotropical institutes currently do not have Diptera curators and technical staff and require guidance in terms of sorting and curating material. We organize training courses that focus on tutoring collection curators, technicians and students, in order to build a sustainable network of trained taxonomists on Afrotropical Diptera within the Afrotropics.

The pollinator information network
newsletter
October 9, 2023. Vol. 6, Issue 1
Welcome to the first issue of volume 6 of the Pollinator Information Network Newsletter

The Pollinator Information Network Newsletter is one of the projected outputs of the “Diversity of
Pollinating Diptera of the Afrotropical Region” project, a project funded by the Belgian Development
Cooperation through the framework agreement with the Royal Museum for Central Africa. The first
phase of the project will end this year but the project will continue for another five years. More on
this in the forthcoming issues!
In this issue, we announce the 12 participants of our fifth training course on the Taxonomy and
Systematics of Pollinating Diptera, which will take place from 16-28 October in Morogoro, Tanzania.
Watch our Facebook page (see below) for pictures on the planned activities! At least two more
training courses are planned: one in 2025 in South Africa and a second one in 2027 in either Burundi
or Rwanda.

Subscribe here: https://www.pindip.org/newsletter

Posted on October 9, 2023 06:07 PM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 0 comments | Leave a comment

September 4, 2023

Status of Asian Malaria Mosquito Anopheles stephensi in Africa

The urban malaria mosquito Anopheles stephensi is recently invading Africa. Left unchecked could put an additional 126 million people at risk of malaria!

We're trying to observe and identify as many mosquitoes as possible throughout Africa, and especially in urban areas.

Can you please help?
• Join our iNaturalist project: www.mosquitoesInAfrica.org > click "JOIN" at the top right
• Upload observations of any mosquitoes, especially those near human or livestock dwellings. Try and get as close and as detailed photographs as you can using your smartphone and the iNaturalist app. Squashed mossies are perfect!
• Identify species of mosquito that you know in the observations (for example, An. stephensi vs. An. gambiae: https://tinyurl.com/stephensi)
• Recruit others to join iNaturalist and our project, and to observe and identify mosquitoes. Please share on social media as well (QR code: https://tinyurl.com/QRAfrica)

Let us sort out these little Critters.

Posted on September 4, 2023 02:12 PM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 1 comment | Leave a comment

July 6, 2023

Recent Papers

Recent litrature on flies of pertinence to us for various reasons.

Posted on July 6, 2023 08:43 AM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 4 comments | Leave a comment

January 25, 2023

DIPoDIP

The Diversity of Pollinating Diptera in South African (SA) biodiversity hotspots (DIPoDIP) project will study the biodiversity of selected true fly families (Bombyliidae, Nemestrinidae, Syrphidae, Tabanidae) in several Biodiversity Hotspots of SA.
The project will improve the taxonomy and resolve phylogenetic relationships of these families and provide basic data on their distribution, pollination ecology in order to study plant-pollinator co-evolution. This will be achieved through training of PhD, MSc and BSc students and joint fieldwork and research. The research will deliver data for Red List assessments and improved conservation strategies for these Biodiversity Hotspots and a workshop with local partners, conservationists,
Red List assessors and stakeholders will be organized to translate the results for policy making . Results will be presented to the larger public to raise awareness of the importance of these fly families in pollination, food security and nature conservation.

For more please see:
https://www.pindip.org/dipodip
https://www.africamuseum.be/fr/research/discover/projects/prj_detail?prjid=698
https://m.facebook.com/pollinatingdiptera/
https://jrsbiodiversity.org/pindip2/
https://openaid.be/en/project/xm-dac-2-10-3835

See some events on iNaturalist.
Focal Flies: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=113055&taxon_ids=51558,120090,49995,47821&view=species
Grassland National Park Survey- Diptera: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2022-01-01&d2=2022-02-28&place_id=any&project_id=grassveld-national-park&taxon_id=47822&verifiable=any

Posted on January 25, 2023 07:03 AM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 0 comments | Leave a comment

January 24, 2023

Related Projects and links.

Posted on January 24, 2023 08:44 AM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 2 comments | Leave a comment

Most common Fly Families in southern Africa

Observations Family (Genera on iNat) on iNaturalist as of January 2023

3,937 Syrphidae (Hover Flies) 22
2,959 Asilidae (Robber Flies) 58
2,367 Bombyliidae (Bee Flies) 40

1,997 Calliphoridae (Blow Flies) 8
1,686 Muscidae (House Flies) 19
1,305 Tachinidae (Bristle Flies) 27
1,125 Tabanidae (Horse Flies) 15
1,064 Sarcophagidae (Flesh Flies) 1
1,033 Cecidomyiidae (Gall Midges) 14

948 Rhiniidae (Nose Flies) 10
916 Culicidae (Mosquitoes) 9
806 Chironomidae (Non-biting Midges) 5
785 Tephritidae (Fruit Flies) 36
776 Tipulidae (Large Crane Flies) 7
680 Stratiomyidae (Soldier Flies) 23

Posted on January 24, 2023 08:40 AM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 1 comment | Leave a comment

References

For the beginner:
A field guide to Insects of South Africa - Struik Nature

For the enthusiast:
Manual of Afrotropical Diptera Eds: AH Kirk-Spriggs & BJ Sinclair 2017 - Suricata (SANBI)

Vol 1 Introductory chapter and keys to Diptera Families
( get your electronic copy of Vol 1 here)

Vol 2 Nematocera & Lower Brachycera
(get your electronic copy of Vol 2 here)

Vol 3 Brachycera-Cyclorrhapha, excluding Calyptratae - Higher Diptera
(get your electronic copy of Vol 3 here)

Freshwater Invertebrates of Southern Africa. Volume 9: Diptera. Editors: JA Day, AD Harrison & IJ de Moor. Water Research Commission.
(get your electronic copy of Freshwater Flies here)

Please add further useful references below:

Posted on January 24, 2023 08:19 AM by tonyrebelo tonyrebelo | 3 comments | Leave a comment

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