Fauna Europaea: Diptera – Brachycera

Abstract Abstract

Fauna Europaea provides a public web-service with an index of scientific names (including important synonyms) of all extant multicellular European terrestrial and freshwater animals and their geographical distribution at the level of countries and major islands (east of the Urals and excluding the Caucasus region). The Fauna Europaea project comprises about 230,000 taxonomic names, including 130,000 accepted species and 14,000 accepted subspecies, which is much more than the originally projected number of 100,000 species. Fauna Europaea represents a huge effort by more than 400 contributing taxonomic specialists throughout Europe and is a unique (standard) reference suitable for many user communities in science, government, industry, nature conservation and education. The Diptera–Brachycera is one of the 58 Fauna Europaea major taxonomic groups, and data have been compiled by a network of 55 specialists.

Within the two-winged insects (Diptera), the Brachycera constitute a monophyletic group, which is generally given rank of suborder. The Brachycera may be classified into the probably paraphyletic 'lower brachyceran grade' and the monophyletic Eremoneura. The latter contains the Empidoidea, the Apystomyioidea with a single Nearctic species, and the Cyclorrhapha, which in turn is divided into the paraphyletic 'aschizan grade' and the monophyletic Schizophora. The latter is traditionally divided into the paraphyletic 'acalyptrate grade' and the monophyletic Calyptratae. Our knowledge of the European fauna of Diptera–Brachycera varies tremendously among families, from the reasonably well known hoverflies (Syrphidae) to the extremely poorly known scuttle flies (Phoridae). There has been a steady growth in our knowledge of European Diptera for the last two centuries, with no apparent slow down, but there is a shift towards a larger fraction of the new species being found among the families of the nematoceran grade (lower Diptera), which due to a larger number of small-sized species may be considered as taxonomically more challenging.

Most of Europe is highly industrialised and has a high human population density, and the more fertile habitats are extensively cultivated. This has undoubtedly increased the extinction risk for numerous species of brachyceran flies, yet with the recent re-discovery of Thyreophora cynophila (Panzer), there are no known cases of extinction at a European level. However, few national Red Lists have extensive information on Diptera.

For the Diptera–Brachycera, data from 96 families containing 11,751 species are included in this paper.

Introduction

In 1998 the European Commission published the European Community Biodiversity Strategy, providing a framework for the development of Community policies and instruments in order to comply with the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Strategy recognised the current incomplete state of knowledge at all levels of biodiversity, a state which makes a successful implementation of the Convention difficult. Fauna Europaea was conceived to contribute to this Strategy by supporting one of the main themes: to identify and catalogue the components of the European biodiversity, with the cataloguing implemented as a taxonomic and faunistic database serving as a basic tool for scientific documentation and discovery, environmental management, and conservation policies/priorities.

With regard to biodiversity in Europe, science and policies depend on sufficient knowledge of the relevant components. The assessment of biodiversity, including monitoring changes and ensuring sustainable exploitation, as well as much legislative work, depend upon a validated taxonomic overview, in which Fauna Europaea will play a major role by providing a web-based information infrastructure with an index of scientific names (including the most important synonyms) of all living European multicellular terrestrial and freshwater animals, their geographical distribution at the level of countries and major islands, and some relevant additional information.

Fauna Europaea (FAEU) kicked off in 2000 as an EC-FP5 four-year project, delivering its first release in 2004 (de Jong et al. 2014). This online-only version has continuously been updated, and after a further decade of steady progress, to efficiently disseminate the results of Fauna Europaea and to properly credit the Fauna Europaea contributors, modern e-publishing tools are being applied to prepare data papers on all 58 major taxonomic groups. For this purpose a special Biodiversity Data Journal Series has been compiled, called Contributions on Fauna Europaea (see also: Pensoft News item 17 Dec 2014). This work was initiated during the ViBRANT project and is further supported by the recently started EU BON project. This paper is the first publication from the Fauna Europaea Diptera–Brachycera data sector as a BDJ data paper in the Fauna Europaea series, and further contributions should be expected when warranted by major updates.

In the EU BON project (Hoffmann et al. 2014) further steps will be made to implement Fauna Europaea as a basic tool and standard reference for biodiversity research and as a means to facilitate taxonomic expertise evaluation and management in Europe. The Fauna Europaea data papers will contribute to a quality assessment on biodiversity data by providing estimates on gaps in our taxonomic information and knowledge.

General description

Purpose

Fauna Europaea is a database of the scientific names and distributions (at national or in some cases regional level) of all currently known extant multicellular European terrestrial and freshwater animal species. The database has been assembled by a large network of taxonomic specialists. An extended description of the Fauna Europaea project can be found in de Jong et al. 2014. A summary is given in the sections below.

The Diptera–Brachycera is one of the 58 Fauna Europaea major taxonomic groups, covering 11,751 species (Table 1), and the data have been gathered by a network of 55 specialists (Tables 1, 3).

Table 1.

Taxonomic specialists per family for Diptera–Brachycera and their responsibilities. Expert replacements to be implemented for coming versions are given in Table 2. The actual numbers of databased species are given per family. For most families is also given an indication of the actual number of known/described species (showing a potential information gap) plus an estimate of the total number of existing species (i.e., described/known plus undescribed/undiscovered) for Europe.

TAXONOMY		EUROPE
FAMILY	SPECIALIST(S)	DATABASED SPECIES (Fauna Europaea)	TOTAL RECORDED SPECIES (information-gap)	TOTAL ESTIMATED SPECIES (knowledge-gap)
Acartophthalmidae	Andrey L. Ozerov	3	3	3-4
Acroceridae	Emilia P. Nartshuk	34	34	34
Agromyzidae	Michel Martinez	906	910	>1200
Anthomyiidae	Verner Michelsen	508	508	570
Anthomyzidae	Jindřich Roháček	28	32	35
Asilidae	Fritz Geller-Grimm	524	584	•
Asteiidae	Miguel Carles-Tolrá	18	21	24
Atelestidae	Milan Chvála	4	3	3
Athericidae	Rudolf Rozkosny	10	10	10
Aulacigastridae	Miguel Carles-Tolrá	4	4	4
Bombyliidae	David J. Greathead [deceased] — Neal Evenhuis [follow-up]	335	335	355
Borboropsidae	Andrzej J. Woznica	2	2	2
Braulidae	Miguel Carles-Tolrá	3	3	3
Calliphoridae	Knut Rognes	114	115	130
Camillidae	Miguel Carles-Tolrá	8	9	10
Campichoetidae	Peter J. Chandler	7	7	7
Canacidae	Wayne N. Mathis	4	5	8
Carnidae	Andrej L. Ozerov	39	46	55
Chamaemyiidae	Stephen D. Gaimari	107	109	128
Chiropteromyzidae	Andrzej J. Woznica	2	2	2
Chloropidae	Emilia P. Nartshuk	394	412	475
Chyromyidae	Martin John Ebejer	59	64	74
Clusiidae	Jindřich Roháček & Bernhard Merz	14	14	15
Cnemospathididae	Andrzej J. Woźnica	0	1	1
Coelopidae	Rudolf Meier	3	3	3
Coenomyiidae	Rudolf Rozkosny	1	1	1
Conopidae	David K. Clements	84	84	90
Cryptochetidae	Emilia P. Nartshuk	3	3	3
Curtonotidae	Miguel Carles-Tolrá	1	1	1
Diastatidae	Peter J. Chandler	9	9	9
Diopsidae	Rudolf Meier	1	1	1
Dolichopodidae	Marc Pollet	773	796	900
Drosophilidae	Gerhard Bächli	121	122	•
Dryomyzidae	Miguel Carles-Tolrá	4	4	4
Empididae	Milan Chvála	816	860	•
Ephydridae	Tadeusz Zatwarnicki	337	340	340
Fanniidae	Adrian C. Pont	83	•	•
Helcomyzidae	Rudolf Meier	2	2	2
Heleomyzidae	Andrzej J. Woznica	150	152	165
Heterocheilidae	Rudolf Meier	1	1	1
Hilarimorphidae	Thomas Pape — Christian Kehlmaier [follow-up]	2	2	2
Hippoboscidae	Frederik T. Petersen	30	30	•
Hybotidae	Milan Chvála	442	470	•
Lauxaniidae	Bernhard Merz	157	•	•
Lonchaeidae	Miguel Carles-Tolrá — Thomas Pape [follow-up]	96	102	110
Lonchopteridae	Miroslav Barták	13	11	11
Megamerinidae	Andrej L. Ozerov	1	1	1
Micropezidae	Andrej L. Ozerov	22	22	25
Microphoridae	Milan Chvála	17	20	•
Milichiidae	Miguel Carles-Tolrá	43	45	48
Muscidae	Adrian C. Pont	572	•	•
Mydidae	David J. Greathead [deceased] — Torsten Dikow [follow-up]	5	6	8
Mythicomyiidae	David J. Greathead [deceased] — Neal Evenhuis [follow-up]	30	32	70
Nannodastiidae	Martin John Ebejer	3	3	4
Nemestrinidae	David J. Greathead [deceased] — Torsten Dikow [follow-up]	13	13	15
Nycteribiidae	Karel Hůrka [deceased] — Mihály Földvári [follow-up]	15	16	20
Odiniidae	Miguel Carles-Tolrá	14	15	16
Oestridae	Thomas Pape	22	22	22
Opetiidae	Peter J. Chandler	1	1	1
Opomyzidae	Jan-Willem van Zuijlen	33	33	36
Pallopteridae	Bernhard Merz — Miguel Carles-Tolrá [follow-up]	23	23	24
Periscelididae (incl. Stenomicridae)	Miguel Carles-Tolrá	6	7	9
Phaeomyiidae	Rudolf Rozkosny	3	3	3
Phoridae	Gisela Weber & Sabine Prescher	656	•	>1500
Piophilidae	Andrey L. Ozerov	29	31	35
Pipunculidae	Marc de Meyer — Christian Kehlmaier [follow-up]	200	205	230
Platypezidae	Peter J. Chandler	43	45	53
Platystomatidae	Valery A. Korneyev	21	21	25
Pseudopomyzidae	Bernhard Merz — Miguel Carles-Tolrá [follow-up]	1	1	1
Psilidae	Thomas Pape	47	49	55
Pyrgotidae	Bernhard Merz — Valery A. Korneyev [follow-up]	1	2	2
Rachiceridae	Rudolf Rozkosny	1	1	1
Rhagionidae	József Majer	85	85	90
Rhinophoridae	Thomas Pape	45	48	55
Sarcophagidae	Thomas Pape	309	•	350
Scathophagidae	Herman de Jong	158	•	•
Scenopinidae	Miguel Carles-Tolrá	16	16	18
Sciomyzidae	Rudolf Rozkosny	136	138	145
Sepsidae	Rudolf Meier	48	45	50
Sphaeroceridae	Jindřich Roháček	257	260	>270
Stratiomyidae	Rudolf Rozkosny	141	140	145
Streblidae	Karel Hůrka [deceased] — Mihály Földvári [follow-up]	1	1	2
Strongylophthalmyiidae	Thomas Pape	2	2	2
Syrphidae	Martin C. D. Speight	829	875	950
Tabanidae	Milan Chvála	213	220	•
Tachinidae	Hans-Peter Tschorsnig	877	897	920
Tanypezidae	Jindřich Roháček	1	1	1
Tephritidae	Valery A. Korneyev	267	267	275
Tethinidae	Lorenzo Munari	34	33	34
Therevidae	Kevin C. Holston	99	102	120
Trixoscelididae	Andrzej J. Woznica	26	27	40
Ulidiidae	Elena P. Kameneva & Lita Greve-Jensen	106	106	114
Vermileonidae	Thomas Pape — Christian Kehlmaier [follow-up]	9	9	25
Xenasteiidae	Miguel Carles-Tolrá	1	2	3
Xylomyidae	Rudolf Rozkosny	8	8	8
Xylophagidae	Rudolf Rozkosny	5	5	5

Table 3.

Associated Specialists for Diptera–Brachycera and their responsibilities.

TAXONOMIC GROUP or GEOGRAPHIC AREA	SPECIALIST
<Norway>	Lita Greve-Jensen
<Spain>, <Portugal>, <Andorra>	Miguel Carles-Tolrá
Lauxaniidae	Anatole I. Shatalkin
Bombyliidae, Mythicomyiidae	Neal L. Evenhuis
Tachinidae	Christer Bergström
Tachinidae	Pierfilippo Cerretti
Tachinidae	Vera Richter [deceased]
Tachinidae	Zdravko Hubenov
Tachinidae	Theo Zeegers
Tachinidae	Chris Raper
Tachinidae	Cezary Bystrowski
Tachinidae	Joachim Ziegler
Tachinidae	Jaromír Vaňhara
Tachinidae	Guy Van de Weyer
Chamaemyiidae	Vitali N. Tanasijtshuk

Additional information

Diptera–Brachycera

Diptera are usually classified into the 'nematoceran grade' or 'lower Diptera' and the monophyletic Brachycera. The Brachycera may in turn be classified into the probably paraphyletic 'lower Brachycera' and the monophyletic Eremoneura. The latter contains the Empidoidea, the Apystomyioidea with a single Nearctic species, and the Cyclorrhapha, which in turn are divided into the paraphyletic 'aschizan grade' and the monophyletic Schizophora. The latter are traditionally divided into the paraphyletic 'acalyptrate grade' and the monophyletic Calyptratae (Yeates and Wiegmann 1999, Wiegmann et al. 2011, Lambkin et al. 2013). Diptera increase in the relative proportion of the insect fauna at increasing altitude as well as at higher latitudes, whether counting the number of species or the number of individuals. In Europe, Diptera are surpassed only by the Hymenoptera in the total number of species, but Diptera are the predominant insect group in high montane, subarctic, and arctic environments. Europe lies mainly in the temperate climate zone, and its species diversity is relatively poor, being heavily influenced by the Quaternary glaciations. With some 12,000 species of Brachycera and 7,000 species of the nematoceran grade (lower Diptera), the European fauna of Diptera is comparable to those of the Nearctic (ca. 22,000), Afrotropical (ca. 20,000), Oriental (ca. 23,000) and Australasian (ca. 19,000) regions (Pape et al. 2009). The knowledge of the taxonomic composition of the European Diptera fauna may therefore be considered as far more complete than for any other major region. This relates to historical circumstances, with Europe having a much longer taxonomic tradition and with relatively more funding being available to the European taxasphere. The number of species added to the European Diptera fauna has been remarkably constant over time, and the species accumulation curve shows to date no signs of levelling off (Pape 2009, Fontaine et al. 2012, Pape, unpubl.). Among the Brachycera, the most species-rich families in the European fauna are the Agromyzidae, Dolichopodidae, Empididae, Syrphidae and Tachinidae. Much remains to be discovered, and especially the Phoridae stand out as potentially vastly more diverse than suggested by the current count.

Brachycera are ecologically very diverse (Hövemeyer 2000). Many of the 'lower Brachycera' are predatory in the larval stage, with the parasitic Acroceridae, Bombyliidae and Nemestrinidae as significant exceptions. The Empidoidea include a large assemblage of species with predatory adult and larval stages. Many lineages within the species-rich Cyclorrhapha have adapted to a saprophagous larval life, but also parasitism and predation have evolved numerous times within this group, e.g., millipede parasitising Phaeomyiidae and Muscidae (in part: Eginia Robineau-Desvoidy); mollusc parasitising Sciomyzidae and Calliphoridae (in part, e.g., Melanomyinae); insect parasitising Cryptochetidae, Pipunculidae, Pyrgotidae, Tachinidae and Sarcophagidae (in part, e.g., Blaesoxipha Loew); woodlouse parasitising Rhinophoridae; mammal parasitising Oestridae; plant parasitising Agromyzidae, Tephritidae, Anthomyiidae (in part), Chloropidae (in part) and Scathophagidae (in part); and insect predating Chamaemyiidae, Chloropidae (in part), Muscidae (in part), Odiniidae (in part) and Syrphidae (in part). The genera Nephrocerus Zetterstedt (Pipunculidae) and Admontia Brauer & Bergenstamm and Siphona Meigen (both Tachinidae) deserve special mention because they contain species that are parasitoids of other Diptera (in this case Tipulidae), and Nephrocerus spp. may be the only European fly species that parasitise adult Diptera (Koenig and Young 2007). The Phoridae present a remarkable diversity of life habits, ranging from extreme specialisations like the ladybird parasitising species of Phalacrotophora Enderlein to the 'omnivorous' Megaselia scalaris (Loew), which has been bred from an astonishingly broad range of organic materials even including shoe polish and paint (Disney 1994). Shore flies (Ephydridae) are magnificently tolerant of extreme environments, such as hot springs, saline and alkaline waters, and even crude oil (references in Mathis and Zatwarnicki 1995). The Syrphidae are well known for the mimetism of many adults and the multitude of larval life forms, with some of the more classic examples including rat-tails living in putrid water, free-living aphid predators, bulb miners, and inquilines and scavengers in nests of ants, bees and social wasps (Thompson and Rotheray 1998).

Brachyceran flies contain several important agricultural pests, like cabbage flies (Delia spp., Anthomyiidae), shoot flies (Atherigona spp., Muscidae), frit flies [Oscinella frit (Linnaeus), Chloropidae], and fruit flies [e.g., Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) and Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), Tephritidae); others are blood-sucking, like the horn fly [Haematobia irritans (Linnaeus), Muscidae] and the false stable fly [Muscina stabulans (Fallén) Muscidae]; or vectors of various diseases like the bovine filariasis transmitted by some species of Musca Linnaeus (Krafsur and Moon 1997). Flies may be a nuisance when occurring in vast numbers around landfills, garbage dumps, or dung-heaps (Howard 2001). Particularly remarkable cases of mass occurrences are given by the chloropid fly Thaumatomyia notata (Meigen), specimens of which, possibly guided by a species-specific male pheromone, seek suitable places for overwintering and in extreme cases may enter buildings in such numbers that they darken the ceilings and create bucket-loads of dead bodies when they die in the dry indoor climate (Nartshuk 2000). On the beneficial side, many Brachycera are efficient decomposers and play an important role in cleaning sewage and recycling organic waste (McLean 2000); some hover flies (Syrphidae) and grass flies (Chloropidae) are predators on pest aphids (Ismay and Nartshuk 2000, Thompson and Rotheray 1998) and larvae of the long-legged fly genus Medetera (Dolichopodidae) feed on all stages of bark beetles (Curculionidae, Scolytinae) (Hulcr et al. 2005); and blow flies (Calliphoridae) may serve as forensic indicators (Catts and Goff 1992, Byrd and Castner 2000, Rivers and Dahlem 2014) and even improve human health through the treatment of complicated wounds (Sherman 2001, Sherman 2002, Sherman 2003). Drosophila melanogaster Meigen (Drosophilidae) has become the archetype of a geneticists laboratory animal, and the multitude of genetic studies performed on this species has had a profound impact on our understanding of gene expression, gene regulatory mechanisms, mutations, etc. (see references in Courtney et al. 2009).

One European brachyceran recently considered as extinct (Fontaine et al. 2007, Pape 2009) was rediscovered in Spain in this decade (Carles-Tolrá et al. 2010, Martín-Vega et al. 2010, Zaldivar Ezquerro et al. 2011, Carles-Tolrá and Cañete Saiz 2012): the bone-skipper Thyreophora cynophila (Panzer) (Piophilidae: Thyreophorinae) was, around 1800, frequently encountered on larger carrion like dogs, mules, and horses in very early spring (Séguy 1950). The present-day rareness of this morphologically quite conspicuous species may be due to changes in livestock management and improved carrion disposal following the Industrial Revolution in Europe. The growth in human population and the associated reduction in the number of large predators may also have played a part, as this has meant fewer large carcasses with partly crushed long bones, which appears to be one of the favoured breeding media for T. cynophila.

The distributional pattern of European Brachycera keeps changing, and the underlying causes may not always be evident. For example, the cold-adapted species Scoliocentra nigrinervis (Wahlgren) (Heleomyzidae) has been newly recorded from areas in Central Europe where it was previously unrecorded (Preisler and Roháček 2012, Soszyńska-Maj and Woźnica 2012). This is in contrast to the current climate change related to global warming during recent decades. Another species, Prosopantrum flavifrons (Enderlein) (Cnemospathididae) was probably accidentally introduced from South Africa by bird migrations to one of the British Isles (Ismay and Smith 1994, Cole 1996), and being a parthenogenetic species with larvae developing in bird guano, it has spread to one of the East Frisian Islands (Stuke and Merz 2005).

Project description

Title

This BDJ data paper includes the taxonomic indexing efforts in Fauna Europaea on European Diptera–Brachycera covering the first two versions of Fauna Europaea (up to version 2.6).

Personnel

The taxonomic framework of Fauna Europaea includes scientists from the 34 partner institutes, which together with a number of citizen scientists provide the taxonomic expertise and faunistic quality assurance and take care of data collation.

Every taxonomic group is covered by at least one Group Coordinator responsible for the supervision and integrated input of taxonomic and occurrence data of a particular group. For Diptera–Brachycera the responsible Group Coordinators are Thomas Pape (versions 1 & 2) and Paul Beuk (version 2).

The Fauna Europaea checklist would not have reached its current level of completion without the input from several taxonomic specialists. The formal responsibility of collating and delivering the data for relevant families has resided with the appointed Taxonomic Specialists (see Table 1), while Associate Specialists deserve due credit for their important contributions at various levels, including particular geographic regions or (across) taxonomic groups (see Table 3).

Data management tasks were taken care of by the Fauna Europaea project bureau. During the project phase (until 2004) a network of principal partners took care of the diverse management tasks: Zoological Museum Amsterdam (general management & system development), Zoological Museum of Copenhagen (data collation), National Museum of Natural History in Paris (data validation) and Museum and Institute of Zoology in Warsaw (Newly Associated States [NAS] extension). From the formal termination of the project in 2004 to 2013, all tasks were taken over by the Zoological Museum Amsterdam.

Study area description

The study area covers the western Palaearctic, including the European mainland, Great Britain, the Macaronesian islands, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Svalbard, Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, but excluding Turkey, the Caucasus, western Kazakhstan, the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa (see Fig. 3).

Figure 3.

Fauna Europaea geographic coverage ('minimal Europe').

Design description

Standards. Group Coordinators and taxonomic specialists have been delivering the (sub)species names according to strict standards. The names provided by Fauna Europaea are scientific names. The taxonomic scope includes issues like, (1) the definition of criteria used to identify the accepted species-group taxa, (2) the hierarchy (classification scheme) for the accommodation of all accepted (sub)species, (3) relevant synonyms, and (4) the correct nomenclature. The Fauna Europaea 'Guidelines for Group Coordinators and Taxonomic Specialists' (Suppl. material 1) include the standards, protocols, scope and geographical limits and provide the instructions for the more than 400 taxonomic specialists contributing to the project.

Data management. The data records could either be entered offline into a preformatted MS-Excel worksheet or directly into the Fauna Europaea transaction database using an online browser interface. Since 2013 the data servers are hosted at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, and an updated data entry tool is under development.

Data set. The Fauna Europaea basic data set consists of: accepted (sub)species names (including authorship), synonyms (including authorship), taxonomic hierarchy / classification, misapplied names (including misspellings and alternative taxonomic views), homonym annotations, expert details, European distribution (at the level of country or major island), global distribution (only for European species), taxonomic reference (optional), occurrence reference (optional).

Funding

Fauna Europae a was funded by the European Commission under the Fifth Framework Programme and contributed to the Support for Research Infrastructures work programme with Thematic Priority Biodiversity (EVR1-1999-20001) for a period of four years (1 March 2000 – 1 March 2004), including a short 'NAS extension', allowing EU candidate accession countries to participate. Follow-up support was given by the EC-FP5 EuroCAT project (EVR1-CT-2002-20011), by the EC-FP6 ENBI project (EVK2-CT-2002-20020), by the EC-FP6 EDIT project (GCE 018340), by the EC-FP7 PESI project (RI-223806) and by the EC-FP7 ViBRANT project (RI-261532). Continued management and hosting of the Fauna Europaea services was supported by the University of Amsterdam (Zoological Museum Amsterdam) and SARA/Vancis. Recently, the hosting of Fauna Europaea was taken over by the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, supported by the EC-FP7 EU BON project (grant agreement №308454).

Additional support for preparing the Diptera–Brachycera data set was received through the numerous institutions allowing for the proper allocation of time by the taxonomic specialists.

Sampling methods

Study extent

See relevant sections on coverage.

Sampling description

Fauna Europaea data have been assembled by the principal taxonomic specialists based on their individual expertise, which includes studies of the literature, collection research, and field sampling. In total 476 taxonomic specialists contributed taxonomic and/or faunistic information for Fauna Europaea. The vast majority of the experts are from Europe (including EU non-member states). As a unique feature, Fauna Europaea funds were set aside for paying/compensating for the work of taxonomic specialists and Group Coordinators (around five Euro per species).

To facilitate data transfer and data import, sophisticated on-line (web interfaces) and off-line (spreadsheets) data-entry routines were built, well integrated within an underlying central Fauna Europaea transaction database (see Fig. 1). This included advanced batch data import routines and utilities to display and monitor the data processing within the system. In retrospect, it seems that the off-line submission of data was probably the best for bulk import during the project phase, while the on-line tool was preferred to enter modifications in later versions. This data management system worked well until its replacement in 2013.

Figure 1.

Fauna Europaea on-line (browser interfaces) and off-line (spreadsheets) data entry tools.

A first release of Fauna Europaea via the web-portal was presented on 27 September 2004, whereas the most recent release (version 2.6.2) was launched on 29 August 2013. An overview of Fauna Europaea releases can be found at: http://www.faunaeur.org/about_fauna_versions.php.

Quality control

Fauna Europaea data are unique in the sense that they are fully expert-based. Selecting leading experts for all groups provided a principal assurance of the systematic reliability and consistency of the Fauna Europaea data.

Further, all Fauna Europaea data sets have been intensively reviewed at regional and thematic validation meetings, at review sessions at taxonomic symposia (for some groups), by Fauna Europaea Focal Points (during the FaEu-NAS and PESI projects) and by various end-users sending annotations using the web form at the web-portal. Additional validation on gaps and correct spellings was effected by the validation office at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

Checks on technical and logical correctness of the data were implemented by the data entry tools, including around 50 'Taxonomic Integrity Rules'. This validation tool proved to be of considerable value for both the taxonomic specialists and project management, and significantly contributed to the preparation of a remarkably clean and consistent data set.

This thorough review procedure makes Fauna Europaea the most scrutinised data set in its domain. In general we expected to get taxonomic data for 99.3% of the known European fauna directly after the initial release of Fauna Europaea (de Jong et al. 2014). The faunistic coverage is not quite as good, but is nevertheless 90-95% of the total fauna. Currently, for the Diptera–Brachycera the taxonomic completeness is considered to be around 93% (see Table 1).

To optimise the use and implementation of a uniform and correct nomenclature, a cross-referencing of the Fauna Europaea Diptera data-set with relevant nomenclators, including Systema Dipterorum, is recommended, following the global efforts on establishing a so-called 'Global Names Architecture' (Pyle and Michel 2008).

Step description

By evaluating team structure and procedures (data-entry, validation, updating, etc.), clear definitions of roles of users and user-groups in relation to the taxonomic classification were established, including ownership and read/write privileges. In addition, guidelines on common data exchange formats and codes have been issued (see also Suppl. material 1).

Geographic coverage

Description

Species and subspecies distributions in Fauna Europaea are registered at least at the level of (political) country. For this purpose the FaEu geographical system basically follows the TDWG standards (see Fig. 2). The area studied covers the western Palaearctic, including the European mainland, Great Britain, the Macaronesian islands, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Svalbard, Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya, but excluding Turkey, the Caucasus, western Kazakhstan, the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa (see Fig. 3).

Figure 2.

Fauna Europaea TDWG areas.

The focus is on species (or subspecies) of European multicellular animals of land and freshwater environments. Species in brackish waters, occupying the marine/freshwater or marine/terrestrial transition zones, are generally excluded.

Coordinates

Mediterranean and Arctic Islands Latitude; Atlantic Ocean (Mid-Atlantic Ridge) and Ural Longitude.

Taxonomic coverage

Description

The Fauna Europaea database contains the scientific names of all living European land and freshwater animal species, including numerous groups at various hierarchical levels, and the most important synonyms. More details about the conceptual background of Fauna Europaea and standards followed are described above.

This data paper covers the Diptera–Brachycera content of Fauna Europaea, including 96 families, 11,751 species, 179 subspecies and 2,233 (sub)specific synonyms (see Fig. 4). Higher ranks are given below, the species list can be downloaded from the Fauna Europaea portal (see: Data resources).

Figure 4.

Fauna Europaea Diptera–Brachycera species per family. See Table 1 for family statistics. For full resolution see Suppl. material 2.

Some recent changes in the classification of Diptera–Brachycera will be effectuated in the next version. This includes the merging of the families Canacidae and Tethinidae into a single family, Canacidae (the older family group name) (McAlpine 2007, Munari and Mathis 2010) and the splitting of the Calliphoridae (s.lat.) into Calliphoridae (s.str.) and Rhiniidae in accordance with what is now current practice (Pape et al. 2011, Pape and Evenhuis 2013).

Taxa included

Rank	Scientific Name	Common Name
kingdom	Animalia	animals
subkingdom	Eumetazoa
phylum	Arthropoda	arthropods
subphylum	Hexapoda	hexapods
class	Insecta	insects
order	Diptera	true flies
suborder	Brachycera
family	Acartophthalmidae
family	Acroceridae
family	Agromyzidae
family	Anthomyiidae
family	Anthomyzidae
family	Asilidae
family	Asteiidae
family	Atelestidae
family	Athericidae
family	Aulacigastridae
family	Bombyliidae
family	Borboropsidae
family	Braulidae
family	Calliphoridae
family	Camillidae
family	Campichoetidae
family	Canacidae
family	Carnidae
family	Chamaemyiidae
family	Chiropteromyzidae
family	Chloropidae
family	Chyromyidae
family	Clusiidae
family	Cnemospathididae
family	Coelopidae
family	Coenomyidae
family	Coenomyiidae
family	Conopidae
family	Cryptochetidae
family	Curtonotidae
family	Diastatidae
family	Diopsidae
family	Dolichopodidae
family	Drosophilidae
family	Dryomyzidae
family	Empididae
family	Ephydridae
family	Fanniidae
family	Gasterophilidae
family	Helcomyzidae
family	Heleomyzidae
family	Heterocheilidae
family	Hilarimorphidae
family	Hippoboscidae
family	Hybotidae
family	Hypodermatidae
family	Lauxaniidae
family	Lonchaeidae
family	Lonchopteridae
family	Megamerinidae
family	Micropezidae
family	Microphoridae
family	Milichiidae
family	Muscidae
family	Mydidae
family	Mythicomyiidae
family	Nannodastiidae
family	Nemestrinidae
family	Neottiophilidae
family	Nycteribiidae
family	Odiniidae
family	Oestridae
family	Opetiidae
family	Opomyzidae
family	Otitidae
family	Pallopteridae
family	Periscelididae
family	Phaeomyiidae
family	Phoridae
family	Piophilidae
family	Pipunculidae
family	Platypezidae
family	Platystomatidae
family	Pseudopomyzidae
family	Psilidae
family	Pyrgotidae
family	Rachiceridae
family	Rhagionidae
family	Rhinophoridae
family	Sarcophagidae
family	Scathophagidae
family	Scenopinidae
family	Sciomyzidae
family	Sciomyzidae
family	Sepsidae
family	Solvidae
family	Sphaeroceridae
family	Stenomicridae
family	Stratiomyidae
family	Streblidae
family	Strongylophthalmyiidae
family	Syrphidae
family	Tabanidae
family	Tachinidae
family	Tanypezidae
family	Tephritidae
family	Tethinidae
family	Therevidae
family	Thyreophoridae
family	Trixoscelididae
family	Ulidiidae
family	Vermileonidae
family	Xenasteiidae
family	Xylomyidae
family	Xylophagidae
subfamily	Achanthipterinae
subfamily	Agromyzinae
subfamily	Anthomyzinae
subfamily	Anthracinae
subfamily	Antoniinae
subfamily	Apocleinae
subfamily	Asilinae
subfamily	Azeliinae
subfamily	Bombyliinae
subfamily	Callomyiinae
subfamily	Calobatinae
subfamily	Canacinae
subfamily	Chalarinae
subfamily	Chamaemyiinae
subfamily	Clusiinae
subfamily	Clusiodinae
subfamily	Coelopinae
subfamily	Coenosiinae
subfamily	Copromyzinae
subfamily	Cremifaniinae
subfamily	Cythereinae
subfamily	Dacinae
subfamily	Dasiopinae
subfamily	Dasypogoninae
subfamily	Dexiinae
subfamily	Discomyzinae
subfamily	Drosophilinae
subfamily	Ecliminae
subfamily	Ephydrinae
subfamily	Exoristinae
subfamily	Gasterophilinae
subfamily	Gymnomyzinae
subfamily	Heleomyzinae
subfamily	Heteromyzinae
subfamily	Hirmoneurinae
subfamily	Hydrelliinae
subfamily	Hypodermatinae
subfamily	Ilytheinae
subfamily	Laphriinae
subfamily	Laphystiinae
subfamily	Leptogastrinae
subfamily	Leptomydinae
subfamily	Limosininae
subfamily	Lomatiinae
subfamily	Lonchaeinae
subfamily	Madizinae
subfamily	Micropezinae
subfamily	Microsaniinae
subfamily	Milichiinae
subfamily	Miltogramminae
subfamily	Muscinae
subfamily	Mydaeinae
subfamily	Nemestrininae
subfamily	Neottiophilinae
subfamily	Nephrocerinae
subfamily	Oestrinae
subfamily	Oligodraninae
subfamily	Orygmatinae
subfamily	Otitinae
subfamily	Paramacronychiinae
subfamily	Periscelidinae
subfamily	Phaoniinae
subfamily	Phasiinae
subfamily	Phthiriinae
subfamily	Phycinae
subfamily	Phytomyzinae
subfamily	Piophilinae
subfamily	Pipunculinae
subfamily	Platypezinae
subfamily	Platystomatinae
subfamily	Sarcophaginae
subfamily	Sepsinae
subfamily	Sphaerocerinae
subfamily	Steganinae
subfamily	Stenomicrinae
subfamily	Stenopogoninae
subfamily	Stichopogoninae
subfamily	Suilliinae
subfamily	Syllegomydinae
subfamily	Tachininae
subfamily	Taeniapterinae
subfamily	Tephritinae
subfamily	Therevinae
subfamily	Toxophorinae
subfamily	Trichopsidiinae
subfamily	Trypetinae
subfamily	Ulidiinae
subfamily	Usiinae
tribe	Adramini
tribe	Andrenosomini
tribe	Anthracini
tribe	Aphoebantini
tribe	Apolysini
tribe	Atherigonini
tribe	Atissini
tribe	Atomosiini
tribe	Azeliini
tribe	Bombyliini
tribe	Borboropsini
tribe	Canacini
tribe	Carpomyini
tribe	Cecidocharini
tribe	Cephaliini
tribe	Cephalopsini
tribe	Ceratitidini
tribe	Chamaemyiini
tribe	Chiropteromyzini
tribe	Coelopini
tribe	Coenosiini
tribe	Conophorini
tribe	Cyrtopogonini
tribe	Dacini
tribe	Dagini
tribe	Dasypogonini
tribe	Dichaetomyiini
tribe	Dioctriini
tribe	Discocerinini
tribe	Discomyzini
tribe	Dithrycini
tribe	Drosophilini
tribe	Dryxini
tribe	Dynomiellini
tribe	Eginiini
tribe	Ephydrini
tribe	Euarestini
tribe	Eudorylini
tribe	Exoprosopini
tribe	Gerontini
tribe	Gitonini
tribe	Glumini
tribe	Gymnomyzini
tribe	Hecamedini
tribe	Heleomyzini
tribe	Heteromyzini
tribe	Hyadinini
tribe	Hydrelliini
tribe	Ilytheini
tribe	Incertaesedistephritinini
tribe	Isopogonini
tribe	Laphriini
tribe	Leucopini
tribe	Limnophorini
tribe	Lipochaetini
tribe	Lipsanini
tribe	Lomatiini
tribe	Microcephalopsini
tribe	Molobratiini
tribe	Muscini
tribe	Mycetaulini
tribe	Myennidini
tribe	Myopitini
tribe	Nidomyiini
tribe	Noeetini
tribe	Notiphilini
tribe	Ochtherini
tribe	Oecotheini
tribe	Orbelliini
tribe	Otitini
tribe	Parydrini
tribe	Phaoniini
tribe	Piophilini
tribe	Pipunculini
tribe	Plesiocerini
tribe	Psilopini
tribe	Reinwardtiini
tribe	Scatellini
tribe	Seiopterini
tribe	Steganini
tribe	Stenopogonini
tribe	Stomoxyini
tribe	Suilliini
tribe	Tephrellini
tribe	Tephritini
tribe	Terelliini
tribe	Tomosvaryellini
tribe	Toxophorini
tribe	Trixoscelidini
tribe	Trypetini
tribe	Typopsilopini
tribe	Ulidiini
tribe	Usiini
tribe	Villini
tribe	Xeramoebini
tribe	Xyphosiini
tribe	Zaceratini
subtribe	Acletoxina
subtribe	Carpomyina
subtribe	Chetostomatina
subtribe	Drosophilina
subtribe	Gitonina
subtribe	Leucophengina
subtribe	Nitrariomyiina
subtribe	Oedaspidina
subtribe	Piophilina
subtribe	Plioreoceptina
subtribe	Steganina
subtribe	Tephrellina
subtribe	Thyreophorina
subtribe	Trypetina

Temporal coverage

Living time period: Currently living multicellular, terrestrial and freshwater animals in stable populations, largely excluding (1) rare / irregular immigrants, (2) alien / invasive species, (3) accidental or deliberate releases of exotic (pet)species, (4) domesticated animals, (5) non-native species imported and released for bio-control or (6) non-native species largely confined to hothouses..

Usage rights

Use license

Open Data Commons Attribution License

IP rights notes

Fauna Europaea data are licensed under CC BY SA version 4.0. The property rights of experts over their data is covered under the SMEBD conditions. For more copyrights and citation details see: http://www.faunaeur.org/copyright.php.

Data resources

Data package title

Fauna Europaea - Diptera-Brachycera

Resource link

http://www.faunaeur.org/Data_papers/FaEu_Diptera-Brachycera_2.6.2.zip

Alternative identifiers

http://www.faunaeur.org/experts.php?id=92

Number of data sets

2

Data set 1.

Data set name

Fauna Europaea - Diptera-Brachycera version 2.6.2 - species

Data format

CSV

Number of columns

25

Character set

UTF-8

Download URL

http://www.faunaeur.org/Data_papers/FaEu_Diptera-Brachycera_2.6.2.zip

Description

Data set 1.

Column label	Column description
datasetName	The name identifying the data set from which the record was derived (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/datasetName).
version	Release version of data set.
versionIssued	Issue data of data set version.
rights	Information about rights held in and over the resource (http://purl.org/dc/terms/rights).
rightsHolder	A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource (http://purl.org/dc/terms/rightsHolder).
accessRights	Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status (http://purl.org/dc/terms/accessRights).
taxonID	An identifier for the set of taxon information (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/taxonID)
parentNameUsageID	An identifier for the name usage of the direct parent taxon (in a classification) of the most specific element of the scientificName (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/parentNameUsageID).
scientificName	The full scientific name, with authorship and date information if known (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/scientificName).
acceptedNameUsage	The full name, with authorship and date information if known, of the currently valid (zoological) taxon (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/acceptedNameUsage).
originalNameUsage	The original combination (genus and species group names), as firstly established under the rules of the associated nomenclaturalCode (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/originalNameUsage).
family	The full scientific name of the family in which the taxon is classified (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/family).
familyNameId	An identifier for the family name.
genus	The full scientific name of the genus in which the taxon is classified (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/genus).
subgenus	The full scientific name of the subgenus in which the taxon is classified. Values include the genus to avoid homonym confusion (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/subgenus).
specificEpithet	The name of the first or species epithet of the scientificName (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/specificEpithet).
infraspecificEpithet	The name of the lowest or terminal infraspecific epithet of the scientificName, excluding any rank designation (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/infraspecificEpithet).
taxonRank	The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the scientificName (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/infraspecificEpithet).
scientificNameAuthorship	The authorship information for the scientificName formatted according to the conventions of the applicable nomenclaturalCode (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/scientificNameAuthorship).
authorName	Author name information
namePublishedInYear	The four-digit year in which the scientificName was published (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/namePublishedInYear).
Brackets	Annotation if authorship should be put between parentheses.
nomenclaturalCode	The nomenclatural code under which the scientificName is constructed (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/nomenclaturalCode).
taxonomicStatus	The status of the use of the scientificName as a label for a taxon (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/taxonomicStatus).
resourceDescription	An account of the resource, including a data-paper DOI (http://purl.org/dc/terms/description)

Data set 2.

Data set name

Fauna Europaea - Diptera-Brachycera version 2.6.2 - hierarchy

Data format

CSV

Number of columns

12

Character set

UTF-8

Download URL

http://www.faunaeur.org/Data_papers/FaEu_Diptera-Brachycera_2.6.2.zip

Description

Data set 2.

Column label	Column description
datasetName	The name identifying the data set from which the record was derived (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/datasetName).
version	Release version of data set.
versionIssued	Issue data of data set version.
rights	Information about rights held in and over the resource (http://purl.org/dc/terms/rights).
rightsHolder	A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource (http://purl.org/dc/terms/rightsHolder).
accessRights	Information about who can access the resource or an indication of its security status (http://purl.org/dc/terms/accessRights).
taxonName	The full scientific name of the higher-level taxon
scientificNameAuthorship	The authorship information for the scientificName formatted according to the conventions of the applicable nomenclaturalCode (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/scientificNameAuthorship).
taxonRank	The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the scientificName (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/infraspecificEpithet).
taxonID	An identifier for the set of taxon information (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/taxonID)
parentNameUsageID	An identifier for the name usage of the direct parent taxon (in a classification) of the most specific element of the scientificName (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/parentNameUsageID).
resourceDescription	An account of the resource, including a data-paper DOI (http://purl.org/dc/terms/description)

Additional information

In the very last phase of the Diptera-Brachycera paper preparation, we received the sad news that one of our respected Fauna Europaea experts on Tachinidae and co-author of this paper, Vera Andreevna Richter, passed away at the age of 79 years. A short obituary can be found here: Suppl. material 3.

Supplementary Material

Supplementary material 1

Fauna Europaea Guidelines for Group Coordinators and Taxonomic Specialists

Nicolas Bailly, Verner Michelsen, Yde de Jong

Data type: pdf

File: oo_3494.pdf

Supplementary material 2

FaEu Diptera-Brachycera stats

Yde de Jong

Data type: png

Brief description: This is a high-resolution version of Figure 4.

File: oo_32490.png

Supplementary material 3

Vera Andreevna Richter short obituary

Dr. B.A. Korotyaev; Dr. O.G. Ovtshinnikova; Dr. V.A. Krivokhatsky

Data type: pdf

File: oo_38602.pdf

Table 2.

Changes in group coordinatorship and taxonomic specialists for Diptera–Brachycera, which will take effect from Version 3.

FAMILY NAME	EXPERTS VERSIONS 1 & 2 (current)	Comment	EXPERTS VERSION 3 (future)	Comment
Bombyliidae	David J. Greathead	Deceased	Neal L. Evenhuis
Mydidae	David J. Greathead	Deceased	Torsten Dikow
Mythicomyiidae	David J. Greathead	Deceased	Neal L. Evenhuis
Nemestrinidae	David J. Greathead	Deceased	Torsten Dikow
Nycteribiidae	Karel Hůrka (Farkač 2005)	Deceased	Mihály Földvári
Streblidae	Karel Hůrka (Farkač 2005)	Deceased	Mihály Földvári
Hippoboscidae	Frederik T. Petersen	Resigned	Thomas Pape
Lonchaeidae	Miguel Carles-Tolrá	Resigned	Iain MacGowan
Lauxaniidae	Bernhard Merz	Resigned	Stephen D. Gaimari
Pallopteridae	Bernhard Merz	Resigned	Miguel Carles-Tolrá
Pseudopomyzidae	Bernhard Merz	Resigned	Miguel Carles-Tolrá
Pyrgotidae	Bernhard Merz	Resigned	Valery A. Korneyev
Hilarimorphidae	Thomas Pape	Resigned	Christian Kehlmaier
Vermileonidae	Thomas Pape	Resigned	Christian Kehlmaier
Pipunculidae	Marc de Meyer	Resigned	Christian Kehlmaier
Clusiidae	Jindřich Roháček & Bernhard Merz	BM Resigned	Jindřich Roháček
Ulidiidae	Elena P. Kameneva & Lita Greve-Jensen	LGJ Resigned	Elena P. Kameneva
	Paul Beuk (version 2)	Resigned	Thomas Pape	Group Coordinatorship

Dedication

This paper is dedicated to David John Greathead, Karel Hůrka, and Vera Andreevna Richter, prominent dipterists, respected members of our Fauna Europaea community and co-authors of this paper, who passed away in the last few years.