CANPOLIN Research on Diptera Pollinators J.H. Skevington, S.A. Marshall, M.M. Locke, A.D. Young, G.F.G. Miranda, F.C. Thompson
CANPOLIN
Research on Diptera
Pollinators
J.H. Skevington, S.A. Marshall, M.M. Locke, A.D. Young, G.F.G.
Miranda, F.C. Thompson
Diptera Pollinators • Key to Pollenia
(Calliphoridae) completed
• Several papers on
Conopidae
• Most projects on Syrphidae
• Pollenia in particular are important shoulder season pollinators
• Six species, all introduced
• Larvae are parasitoids or predators of earthworms (also introduced)
• Publication: Jewiss-Gaines, A., Marshall, S.A. & Whitworth, T.L. 2012. Cluster flies (Calliphoridae: Polleniinae: Pollenia) of North America. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification 19: 1-22.
Calliphoridae
• Specialized pollinators
• Most play a more significant role as parasitoids of bees
• Work on global phylogenetics of family led by Joel Gibson
• Revision of Nearctic species underway by Trevor Burt
Conopidae
• Gibson, J.F. and Skevington, J.H. 2013. Phylogeny and taxonomic revision of all genera of Conopidae (Diptera) based on morphological data. Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society 167: 43-81.
• Gibson, J.F., Skevington, J.H. and Kelso, S. 2013. A phylogenetic analysis of relationships among genera of Conopidae (Diptera) based on molecular and morphological data. Cladistics 29: 193-226.
• Gibson, J.F., Skevington, J.H. and Kelso, S. 2010. Placement of the Conopidae (Diptera) within the Schizophora based on ten mtDNA and nrDNA gene regions. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 56: 91-103.
• Mei, M., Gibson, J.F. and Skevington, J.H. 2010. Observations on hilltopping in the Conopidae (Diptera). Journal of Insect Science 10(27): 1-15.
• Gibson, J.F., Skevington, J.H. and Camras, S. 2013. Conopidae (Diptera). In Biodiversidad de Artrópodos Argentinos. Edited by L.E. Claps et al. Sociedad Entomológica Argentina. pp. in press.
• Skevington, J.H., Thompson, F.C. and Camras, S. 2010. Conopidae (Thick-headed Flies). In: Manual of Central American Diptera. Edited by B.V. Brown et al. INBio, San Jose. pp. 847-855.
Conopidae Publications
• Importance as predators of aphids has long been recognized
• Global decline in pollinators has increased profile of this family
• Recent funding focuses on this group of flies – NSERC Canpolin
– iBOL, AAFC
Syrphidae Research
• Locke & Skevington
• 10 valid NE species historically
• Two conflicting sets of species concepts
• Tested these with COI and ITS2 data
• Morphological characters subtle, many variable
• 13 species recognized and defined
• intrudens complex resists understanding
Revision of Nearctic Dasysyrphus
• Young, Marshall & Skevington
• Male taxonomy relatively robust, but key is focused on males
• Only 13 species of females could formerly be identified
• Associating males and females using COI mtDNA
• 55 species of females can now be keyed out (of 76 spp.)
• 5 new Nearctic records
• 3 new species
Review of Nearctic Platycheirus
Revision of Nearctic Volucella • Complicated morphologically by high levels of
apparent variation on a global scale
• Currently 31 species synonymized as V. bombylans
• 4 Nearctic
species, 1
new
• Variation in
amount of
orange
• Cheng and
Skevington
V. evecta
V. facialis
V. arctica
V. n. sp.
• Sommaggio and Skevington
• 23 Nearctic names, 13 valid species, 2 new species
• We found new characters
• For example, mesonotal roughness
• Added molecular data
• Checked all types
• Completed a workable key
• Publication expected 2015
Revision of Nearctic
Chrysotoxum
• Miranda, Marshall & Skevington
• Nearly 400 species
• Genus not monophyletic
• Explored phylogeny of species groups with multiple genes and morphology
• Proposed new classification
• Revising species groups one by one, 1st revision submitted
Revision of New World Ocyptamus
Flower Fly keys - CJAI
• Miranda, Young, Locke, Marshall, Skevington & Thompson
• Starting with a generic key
• Not necessarily dichotomous
• Richly illustrated
• To be followed by modular species keys
• Will ultimately enable ID of all Nearctic species via microscope
Field guide to Syrphidae
of NE North America
• 407 species
• Using best models from published field guides
• Colour photos, maps, and brief notes on each species
• Sample pages at canacoll.org
Dasysyrphus venustus
Databasing Syrphidae • Inventory of CNC Diptera complete and online
• CNC Syrphidae primary types photographed (407)
• 144,392 Syrphidae databased at CNC (~88% of 165,000 specimens; expected to finish in 2014)
• 2,377 Syrphidae specimens databased at University of Alberta (all)
• 20,704 Syrphidae databased
at University of Guelph (all)
• 10,216 specimens
databased at ROME (all)
• Specimen data to be
published online by 2015
(http://www.cnc-ottawa.ca/taxonomy/SpecSearch.php)
Databasing
• Database used for most of the typical things:
– Producing material examined lists
– Exploring phenology
– Examining geographical patterns
– Vouchering
– Linkage of specimens with photos, tissue collection, molecular data, etc.
• Also have produced predictive maps of current distribution and species distribution change over time for Nearctic syrphid species
Status Report on Canadian
Syrphidae • 490 Canadian syrphid species evaluated
• 223 species secure, 177 sensitive, 25 may be at risk
• 9 species are introduced, 53 could not be assessed
(lack of data), 3 are accidental (vagrants)
Eristalis brousii
• Disappearance of E. brousii linked to hybridization with introduced E. arbustorum
• In the north, E. brousii is clinging to existence in coastal barrens
• Climate change may threaten this last stronghold
• Efforts to conserve E. brousii should likely focus on the far northern edge of its range and in montane habitats above the elevational range of E. arbustorum
At Risk
Building a COI database • Will allow identification of all
life stages and association of
sexes
• Useful tool to assist with
revisionary systematics
• Provides an additional
dataset for phylogenetic
analyses
• >1,700 syrphid species in
dataset
• Along with more user
friendly keys, helps to
remove borders from
taxonomy
World Syrphidae Phylogeny
• Assembling molecular phylogeny of
World Syrphidae
• Using 7 genes (COI, AATS, CAD,
28s, 18s, Period, HSP) as core
• Have finished >300 species, goal is
to include >1000 species
• Will use anchored phylogenetic
techniques to build 400 gene matrix
for ~200 species
• Develop phylogenetic hypotheses
relating all world genera and many
of the world’s species
Exploration of Imperfect Mimicry Penney, Hassall, Skevington, Abbott & Sherratt
• Many syrphids are near
perfect mimics of particular
models
• However, hundreds of
species converge on a
generalized model of a
wasp but are not exact
• Several hypotheses about
how this evolved
• We found that only one
(size) fit data collected
• Published in Nature
Syrphidae Publications
• Locke, M.M. and Skevington, J.H. 2013. Revision of Nearctic Dasysyrphus Enderlein
(Diptera: Syrphidae). Zootaxa 3660(1): 1-80.
• Miranda, G.F.G., Marshall, S.A. and Skevington, J.H. 2013. Revision of the genus
Pelecinobaccha Shannon, description of Relictanum gen. nov., and redescription of
Atylobaccha flukiella (Curran, 1941) (Diptera: Syrphidae). Zootaxa In press.
• Miranda, G.F.G., Young, A.D., Locke, M.M., Marshall, S.A., Skevington, J.H. and
Thompson, F.C. 2013. Key to the Genera of Nearctic Syrphidae. Canadian Journal of
Arthropod Identification 23: 1-351.
• Penney, H.D., Hassall, C., Skevington, J.H., Lamborn, B. and Sherratt, T.N. 2013. The
relationship between morphological and behavioral mimicry in hover flies (Diptera:
Syrphidae). The American Naturalist In press.
• Wright, S.G. and Skevington, J.H. 2013. Revision of the subgenus Episyrphus
(Episyrphus) Matsumura (Diptera: Syrphidae) in Australia. Zootaxa 3683(1): 51-64.
• Young, A.D., Marshall, S.A. and Skevington, J.H. 2013. Revision of Nearctic Platycheirus
(Diptera: Syrphidae). Zootaxa Submitted.
• Penney, H.D., Hassall, C., Skevington, J.H., Abbott, K.R. and Sherratt, T.N. 2012. A
comparative analysis of the evolution of imperfect mimicry. Nature 483: 461-466.
• Skevington, J.H. and Thompson, F.C. 2012. Review of New World Sericomyia (Diptera,
Syrphidae), including description of a new species. The Canadian Entomologist 144:
216-247.
Work in Urban Ecosystems Urban pollinators and green corridors
– City zoning laws (Ottawa)
– Outreach (garden and naturalist
clubs; radio broadcasts)
– Encouraging the use of native
plants
Miscellaneous
General Publication
• Marshall, S.A. 2012. Flies.
The Natural History and
Diversity of Diptera. Firefly.
616 pp.
Student Training
• Diptera PhD students trained
under Canpolin: 3
• MSc students: 3
• Honours students: 2
• FSWEP summer students: 11
• Syrphidae identification
course: 34 (course taught in
2010 and 2012)
Acknowledgements • Photos from
Bugguide, Flick’r, Steve Marshall,
Angela Skevington