[Syrphidae] Arabian Stratiomyidae

Kumar Ghorpade blossomfly1973 at yahoo.co.in
Wed Jun 1 09:03:42 BST 2005


Hi Brigitte, 

"Miss-mails" like these happen if controlled by destiny and this error (!?)allows me to make some comment on your requirement. 

First, its good to find someone interested in Soldier-flies (Stratiomyidae) which are beautiful fellows but not very abundant in India outside of the monsoon (rainy) season. The arid tracts have a peculiar fauna like late Dr Maurice James used to write to me when he was alive and in communication. 

My own bibliographic knowledge of Diptera (and many other animal and plant groups) tells me that if anyone has worked the Strats of the "Middle East," as you put it politically, it must be Dr Erwin Lindner of Germany. Sometimes, in a large "Catalogue' with a limited Index, I find it better to search the bibliography (if relatively complete) using known authors (as "keywords" !) for particular taxa and get quicker results. Dr Rudolf Rozkosny (Czech Rep.) may be another who may be able to help you. Norm Woodley (who has apparently "grown" abundantly as my recent informer from the SI/USNM told me on our collecting expedition here 2 years ago !) would be the best if he has the time to respond. My other close colleague, who also visited me for the second time in 2002, Amnon Freidberg (Israel) knows the stated area well and may also be helpful. 

My real interest in your request mail would be on your comment about the "geographical region fit" you seem to have problems with. This is exactly what I am now working on. I believe using political boundaries and units for geographical distribution data an analyses is ridiculous and counter-productive. I myself am fairly well read and experienced in biogeography and use biogeographical regions, areas, sub-areas and sub-sub-areas (instead of Countries, States, Counties, Districts, etc.) in my work and am finding it more revealing and real (natural). The Arabian peninsula has been problematic with its biogeographical relationships but many serious students would put most of it (except the northern areas) with the Afrotropical region. Its connection to the African continent when both were part of Gondwanaland is the key factor. Amnon has done much work here and will be perhaps the best to ask for help. 

Good luck with your work. In India we will shortly expect our "spring" (the monsoon rains) after a hot summer and insect life will become active again so impulsive collectors like me are more in the field (being "freelance" !) than sitting indoors before a computer, microscope or book/reprint ! 

Finally, I don't mean to be rude or condescending, but if I were you I would love spending as much time as it takes to search the entire Woodley Catalogue, page by page, for Arabian peninsula (a biogeographical sub-region) Stratiomyidae, instead of looking for a "lazy quick-fix" ! The whole is better than the sum of its parts. Cheers,

KUMAR 

     

Brigitte Howarth <bhowarth at emirates.net.ae> wrote:
Sorry folks, this was to go to Chris Thompson, but as it's out there, I'd 
appreciate any help or comments or suggestions.

Regards,

Brigitte

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brigitte Howarth" 
To: "Hoverfly discussion list" 
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 9:41 PM
Subject: [Syrphidae] Stratiomyidae


> Hi there Chris,
>
> Hope you don't mind this question. You are so knowledgeable, perhaps you 
> can save me hours of pouring through catalogues. I've found what I believe 
> to be a Stratiomyidae here in the United Arab Emirates. I have not 
> previously seen records of Soldier-flies here, are you aware of any? I am 
> slowly pouring through the World Catalogue by Woodley but it's time 
> consuming. Problem is that the Middle East doesn't really fit easily into 
> a geographical region and I'm not sure yet where Woodley put us in - 
> haven't come across a Middle Eastern record yet.
>
> Hope you're well.
>
> Brigitte
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Syrphidae mailing list
> Syrphidae at nottingham.ac.uk
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Dr Kumar Ghorpade, B.Sc.(Agri.),M.Sc.,Ph.D (Entomol.)
Smithsonian Institution (U.S.A.) Postdoc Fellow (1982-1983)
Systematic Entomologist & P.-G. Teacher, Dept Entomology, Univ. Agril Sci., Dharwar, Karnataka (India)
Post to: C/o Azman Farm, Doddagubbi P.O., Bangalore 562 149, INDIA
Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partneronline.
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