| Five new records of Megaselia Rondani 1856 (Diptera: Phoridae) for the Iranian fauna |
| Paper ID : 1212-3IICE (R1) |
| Authors: |
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Roya Namaki Khameneh *1, Samad Khaghaninia2, R. Henry L. Disney3, Naseh Maleki-Ravasan4 1Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran 2University of Tabriz, Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, 51664, Tabriz, I.R.Iran 3Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, U. K. 4Department of Parasitology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran |
| Abstract: |
| Phoridae, with about 4,000 identified species in more than 260 genera, is divided into four subfamilies and considered as one of the largest families of Diptera. The genus Megaselia Rondani 1856, which is a giant genus of phorids is one of the most biologically diverse and taxonomically difficult genera in the entire animal kingdom. Members of this genus feed on micro-organisms in aquatic habitats, dung, and carrion, and also include fungivores, plant feeders, predators, parasitoids, and parasites. Adults are usually distinguished by their extremely small sizes (only 1–2 mm), shortened wing vein costa, usually forked vein three and dorsal hair palisade on hind tibia. In order to study the fauna of this family, adult phorids were collected by standard sweeping net and Malaise trap from grasslands and wetland habitats of East Azerbaijan province between 2014 and 2018. Samples were saturated in 75% ethyl alcohol and later identified based on their external morphology and genitalic characters. As a result, the species Megaselia communifonnis (Schmitz, 1918); M. largifrontalis Schmitz, 1939; M. pusilla (Meigen, 1830), M. sandhui Disney, 1981 and M. tarsalis (Wood, 1910) are identified and recorded for the first time from Iran. The material examined deposited at the following insect collections: ICHMM: Insect Collection of Professor Hasan Maleki Milani, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran and UCMZ: University of Cambridge Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, England. |
| Keywords: |
| Phoridae, Megaselia, New records, East Azerbaijan province, Iran |
| Status : Paper Accepted (Poster Presentation) |
