Checklist of the families Lonchopteridae and Phoridae?of Finland (Insecta,Diptera)

A checklist of the Lonchopteridae and Phoridae recorded from Finland is presented.     

Checklist of the fly families Chyromyidae and?Heleomyzidae (Diptera) of Finland

A Finnish checklist of the sphaeroceroid fly families Chyromyidae and Heleomyzidae is provided.     

Checklist of the families Scathophagidae,Fanniidae and?Muscidae of Finland (Insecta,Diptera)

A revised checklist of the Scathophagidae, Fanniidae and Muscidae recorded from Finland is presented. Phaonia amicula Villeneuve, 1922 is noted from Finland for the first time.     

Checklist of the Diptera superfamilies Tephritoidea and?Sciomyzoidea of Finland (Insecta)

A revised checklist of the flies of superfamilies Tephritoidea and Sciomyzoidea of Finland is provided. The following families are covered: Eurygnathomyiidae, Lonchaeidae, Neottiophilidae, Pallopteridae, Piophilidae, Platystomatidae, Tephritidae, Ulidiidae (Tephritoidea); Coelopidae, Dryomyzidae, Heterocheilidae, Phaeomyiidae, Sciomyzidae, Sepsidae (Sciomyzoidea).     

Checklist of the family Chloropidae (Diptera)?of?Finland

A checklist of 147 species the Chloropidae (Diptera) recorded from Finland. Centorisoma elegantulum Becker is recorded for the first time from Finland.     

Checklist of the ‘lower Brachycera’?of?Finland: Tabanomorpha,Asilomorpha and associated?families?(Diptera)

A checklist of the ‘lower Brachycera’ of Finland is presented. This part of the complete checklist of Finnish Diptera covers the families Acroceridae, Asilidae, Athericidae, Bombyliidae, Mythicomyiidae, Rhagionidae, Scenopinidae, Stratiomyidae, Tabanidae, Therevidae, Xylomyidae and Xylophagidae.     

Checklist of the Empidoidea of Finland (Insecta,?Diptera)

An updated checklist of the Atelestidae, Brachystomatidae, Dolichopodidae, Empididae and Hybotidae (Diptera) recorded from Finland is presented. The genera with uncertain placement within superfamily Empidoidea (= the Iteaphila group) are also included in this paper.     

Checklist of the family Ephydridae of Finland (Insecta,?Diptera)

A checklist of 112 species of shore flies (Ephydridae, Diptera) recorded from Finland is presented. Comparing this to the list of Hackman (1980), 52 changes are made: 25 species are added (all but one recorded after 1980), 18 misidentifications are deleted, 5 junior synonyms are replaced and 5 updated generic combinations are given.     

Checklist of the leaf-mining flies (Diptera,?Agromyzidae) of Finland

A checklist of the Agromyzidae (Diptera) recorded from Finland is presented. 279 (or 280) species are currently known from the country. Phytomyza linguae Lundqvist, 1947 is recorded as new to Finland.     

Checklist of the smaller families of Opomyzoidea,Anthomyzidae, Asteiidae,Aulacigastridae, Clusiidae,Odiniidae, Opomyzidae and Periscelididae (Diptera)?of?Finland

A species checklist is presented for Finland covering seven smaller families of Opomyzoidea: Anthomyzidae, Asteiidae, Aulacigastridae, Clusiidae, Odiniidae, Opomyzidae and Periscelididae (Diptera).     

Reassessment of Paleotachina Townsend and Electrotachina Townsend and their removal from?the?Tachinidae (Diptera)

The monotypic genera Paleotachina Townsend, 1921 and Electrotachina Townsend, 1938 were originally described as fossils in amber but were later discovered to be inclusions in copal. Both taxa were originally assigned to the Tachinidae (Diptera) and this placement has continued to the present day. The holotypes of the two type species, P. smithii Townsend and E. smithii Townsend, were examined and the following taxonomic and nomenclatural changes are proposed: Paleotachina is transferred to the Muscidae and placed in synonymy with Aethiopomyia Malloch, 1921, syn. n.; P. smithii Townsend, type species of Paleotachina, is synonymized with Aethiopomyia gigas (Stein, 1906), syn. n.; Electrotachina is transferred to the Sarcophagidae and placed in synonymy with Dolichotachina Villeneuve, 1913, syn. n.; E. smithii Townsend, type species of Electrotachina, is recognized as a valid species of Dolichotachina comb. n. Images of the holotypes of P. smithii and E. smithii are provided and features that have helped place these copal inclusions in their new combinations are discussed.     

L-chromosome inheritance and the problem of chromosome “imprinting” in Sciara (Sciaridae,Diptera)

The loss of the L-chromosomes from the germ line of a newly-collected strain of Sciara impatiens was used as a genetic marker to test whether the supernumeraries in this genus obey the rule of origin which governs the behavior of the regular homologues at first meiotic anaphase in the male. Reciprocal crosses between a normal strain which possessed L's and the no-L line yielded F₁ males whose germ cells contained L-chromosomes of paternal or of maternal origin. Cytological study of the gonads of these males showed that in all instances, irrespective of their origin, the L-chromosomes were conserved. To demonstrate that the L's thus conserved are not lost subsequently during spermiogenesis, the F₁ males derived from normal fathers were bred to females from the no-L line; the gonads of the test-cross progeny showed that these individuals had inherited L-chromosomes. The failure of the paternal L's to obey the rule of origin during spermatogenesis indicates that the supernumeraries in this genus are not subject to the reversible imprinting which the regular complement undergoes. And the genetic effects of exclusively paternal or maternal L-chromosomes on germ cell development and maturation are indistinguishable. Concomitant with the loss of L's from the germ line, the newly-collected strain of S. impatiens underwent an abrupt alteration from unisexual families to variable sex ratios. These ratios are discussed in relation to the problem of sex determination in S. ocellaris, a species which sustained L-chromosome loss during the course of evolution. Discussed also are some new unpublished data which reveal, unexpectedly, a genetic affinity between ocellaris and impatiens. The no-L line of impatiens, which has been kept in laboratory culture for approximately four years, provides a unique opportunity to examine the conditions under which the supernumeraries are retained or lost and also to determine more precisely the nature of their genetic effects.It is a pleasure to acknowledge support by the National Science FoundationIt is a pleasure to acknowledge support by the National Science Foundation     

Community structure of Anthomyiidae (Diptera) of six peat-bogs in the ?umava Mts (Czech Republic)

The species composition of the family Anthomyiidae in six peat-bogs in the Šumava Mts is analysed with regards to dominance, constancy, seasonal occurrence and type of distribution of each species. Anthomyiid communities in all sites are compared based on the number of species, species richness, diversity and equitability indices, as well as coefficients of similarity and Principal Components Analysis (PCA). Three collecting methods are compared: yellow pan water traps (439 specimens/43 species), sweeping (93/18) and Malaise traps (97/22). Three species, Pegoplata aestiva (24.17%), Delia platura (14.47%), and Hylemya nigrimana (11.29%) were eudominant, two further species were dominant: Delia cardui (8.74%) and Botanophila fugax (8.27%). Two species, Botanophilia fugax and Delia platura, were found in all study sites. These species, together with those collected in five sites (Delia cardui, Heterostylodes nominabilis and Hylemya vagans), had a constancy rate higher than 75% and belonged to the category of euconstant species.     

Immunocytochemical identification of α-endorphin-like material in neurones of the brain and corpus cardiacum of the blowfly,Calliphora vomitoria (Diptera)

Summary A group of the 24–26 paraldehyde fuchsin-positive median neurosecretory cells (MNC) in the pars intercerebralis of the brain of the blowfly, Calliphora vomitoria, has shown immunoreactivity towards three different antibodies to -endorphin, a peptide that corresponds to the amino acid sequence present between residues 61 and 76 of the precursor molecule, -lipotropin (-LPH). The immunoreactive material could be followed in axons within the median bundle, the tract through which neurosecretory material from the MNC is passed down to the corpus cardiacum (CC). The -endorphin-immunoreactive material was observed leaving the CC in the cardiac-recurrent nerve, dorsal to the proventriculus, in the direction of the abdomen. The cells that contain the -endorphin-like material are different from those of the MNC that contain insulin-, pancreatic polypeptide-, and gastrin/CCK-like peptides. This finding demonstrates the considerable complexity and peptidergic nature of the MNC and constitutes further evidence that morphinomimetic-like peptides are present in the nervous system of invertebrates.     

The muscular system of the ovipositor of Spaziphora hydromyzina (Fallén) (Diptera, Scathophagidae)

The structure of the ovipositor sclerites and muscles was investigated in Spaziphora hydromyzina (Diptera, Scathophagidae).     

Description of Simulium damascenoi (Diptera: Simuliidae) male and the black-fly species from the State of Amapá, Brazil

Five species are included in the Simulium siolii group, which is placed in the subgenus Psaroniocompsa (Diptera: Simuliidae). Of these five species, only two (Simulium siolii Py-Daniel and Simulium tergospinosum Hamada) have been described in all their life stages, except eggs. Knowledge of the taxonomic characters of all life stages of a species is important in order to clarify interspecific and higher-level taxonomic relationships. The objectives of the present study are to describe the male of Simulium damascenoi Py-Daniel, to provide a list of black-fly species their bionomics and distributions in the state of Amap , Brazil, and to provide an identification key for larvae and pupae for these species.     

Abundance and aggregation egg of Aedes aegypti L. and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae) in the north and northwest of the State of Paraná, Brazil

The abundance and aggregation of eggs of Aedes aegypti L. and Aedes albopictus Skuse was evaluated in the municipalities of Cambé, Ibipor?, Jacarezinho, Maringá and Paranavaí, in the State of Paraná, Brazil by means of oviposition traps. Of the 225 installed traps, 100 were registered as positive for eggs; 4140 eggs were collected, thus demonstrating an highly aggregate distribution. Both species were registered in Cambé, Jacarezinho, Maringá and Paranavaí. Ae. albopictus was generally less abundant and was not present in Ibipor? nor in the oviposition traps of a second collection of Maringá. The relation between sexes for Ae. aegypti was approximately 1:1. In the comparison of the number of adults collected between the two species, a negative correlation was obtained in the samples of Maringá and Cambé, what was attributed the seasonality of these populations. The coexistence of these species indicates that both are under pressure by the control programs, therefore specific evaluations are necessary.