[Syrphidae] A hoverfly dearth?

Wed, 04 Feb 2004 19:56:56 -0500

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Although my collecting activities occur in another part of the Northern
Hemisphere (i.e., Ontario, Canada), I found it to be a poor year for
syrphids here, as well (as did a few other collectors that I have talked
to).  There never seems to be a shortage of alien species like Eristalis
tenax, Eristalis arbustorum, and Syritta pipiens, but many native
species seemed to be in short supply.  Sorry that I can't provide an
explanation, but I thought it might be of interest to note that the
dearth may not have been restricted to your area.

Bill Crins
Peterborough, Ontario

BJBasquil@aol.com wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> I have been collecting hoverflies in Malaise traps as part of my
> undergraduate project and have now identified those I have collected.
> Due to the time constraints on this type of project, the collection
> period was only from late August to mid-November and the numbers I
> collected were very poor. I can partly attribute this to the quality
> of habitat I chose at the nature reserve I used but wondered if there
> was any connection with the unusually hot weather we had this year.
> Could there have been feeding restrictions for phytophagous larvae?
> Has anyone else noticed a dearth in hoverflies this year? In spite of
> the shortage of actual numbers I have, I think, a few interesting
> results and a record now for one species that according to the
> literature was previously restricted to another area. Perhaps, once I
> have had identification confirmed my results may be of interest. I
> intend to use Syrph the Net together with other sources to identify
> hoverfly ecological attributes and to determine which, if any,
> determine hoverfly guild structure. Due to the paucity of my actual
> data I will also be analysing data collected as part of a previous PhD
> thesis at a neighbouring site.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Beverley Basquil
>
> Oxford Brookes University
> Environmental Biology
>

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Although my collecting activities occur in another part of the Northern
Hemisphere (i.e., Ontario, Canada), I found it to be a poor year for syrphids
here, as well (as did a few other collectors that I have talked to).&nbsp;
There never seems to be a shortage of alien species like Eristalis tenax,
Eristalis arbustorum, and Syritta pipiens, but many native species seemed
to be in short supply.&nbsp; Sorry that I can't provide an explanation,
but I thought it might be of interest to note that the dearth may not have
been restricted to your area.
Bill Crins
 Peterborough, Ontario
 &nbsp;
 &nbsp;
 &nbsp;
BJBasquil@aol.com wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>Dear
All,
I have
been collecting hoverflies in Malaise traps as part of my undergraduate
project and have now identified those I have collected. Due to the time
constraints on this type of project, the collection period was only from
late August to mid-November and the numbers I collected were very poor.
I can partly attribute this to the quality of habitat I chose at the nature
reserve I used but wondered if there was any connection with the unusually
hot weather we had this year. Could there have been feeding restrictions
for phytophagous larvae? Has anyone else noticed a dearth in hoverflies
this year? In spite of the shortage of actual numbers I have, I think,
a few interesting results and a record now for one species that according
to the literature was previously restricted to another area. Perhaps, once
I have had identification confirmed my results may be of interest. I intend
to use Syrph the Net together with other sources to identify hoverfly ecological
attributes and to determine which, if any, determine hoverfly guild structure.
Due to the paucity of my actual data I will also be analysing data collected
as part of a previous PhD thesis at a neighbouring site.
Kind
regards,
Beverley
Basquil
Oxford
Brookes University
 Environmental
Biology
 &nbsp;</blockquote>
</html>

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