Syrphidae, Rondani, 1856

Whittington, A. E., 1998, Hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) from Vumba, Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, with the description of a new species of Paragus, Ann. Natal Mus. 39 (1), pp. 185-198 : 190-194

Barraclough (1994) and Duxbury & Barraclough (1994a,b) make the point that invertebrates are too infrequently considered when southern African biodiversity and conservation issues are addressed. Indeed, in 1962, Stuckenberg stated that many invertebrate groups are both poorly known and under-collected. It is hoped that the inventory of syrphid taxa from David Cookson's Vumba collection, will help address these deficiencies, albeit in a small way. When added to other significant papers on the distribution and conservation of Syrphidae in Africa ( De Meyer & Maragia 1993; De Meyer & Whittington 1993; Whittington 1994; De Meyer et al. 1995, and De Meyer et al. 1996), a more complete picture of species associations begins to emerge. It is clear that many species are more widely distributed than previously believed.

The alphabetical list of species is based on material from the Natal Museum, supplemented with material from the Natural History Museum in Bulawayo (Table 1). In the case of the latter material, the acronym NMBZ follows the species name. Some material from NMBZ is from the nearby farm: Cloudlands (2000 m), collected 2-15.ii and 6-17. iv.1923. AU specimens seen from NMBZ have no collector specified and all have an indication on the label that the specimens are the property of the museum (under various names). Eumerus assimilis Doesburg, 1955 and Eumerus erythrocerus Loew, 1858 are from the Umtali District, collected by P. A. Sheppard on 25 September 1931, and February and March 1931 respectively ( Doesburg 1955).

Comparing Table 1 with data in Smith & Vockeroth (1980), there are eight widely distributed genera newly recorded in Zimbabwe. Their previous omission must surely be the result of collecting bias:

Chrysogaster Meigen, 1803

Exallandra Vockeroth, 1969

Hovaxylota Keiser, 1971

Metasyrphus Matsumura in Matsumura & Adachi, 1917

Microdon Meigen, 1803 Phytomia Guerin-Meneville, 1834 Simoides Loew, 1858 Syrittosyrphus Hull, 1944

Furthermore, there are a number of species not encountered in the Vumba material, which, based on the Afrotropical Catalogue ( Smith & Vockeroth 1980), do occur in Zimbabwe. These are divided into two lists:

1. Seven species not in Table I. As they are widespread in the Afrotropical Region,

they are assumed to occur in Zimbabwe:

Allograpta nasuta (Macquart, 1842) Eristalis tenax (Linnaeus, 1758)

Asarkina (Asarkina) ericetorum (Fabricius, 1781) Mallota aenigma Bezzi, 1912

Asarkina (Asarkina) punctifrons Austen, 1909 Syrittaflaviventris Macquart, 1842

Ceriana ammophilina (Speiser, 1910)

2. The following 28 species do not occur in Table 1, but are known to occur in

Zimbabwe :

Allobaccha brevis (Karsch, 1887) Melanostoma scalare (Fabricius. 1794)

Allobaccha ichneumonea (Bezzi, 1915) Merodon cuthbertsoni Curran, 1939

Asarkina (Asarkina) gemmata Bezzi, 1915 Merodon stevensoni Curran, 1939

Ceriana pulchra (Herve-Bazin, 1913) Mesembrius senegalensis (Macquart, 1842)

Eristalinus aequalis (Adams, 1905) Paragus (Paragus) pusillus Stuckenberg, 1954

Eristalinus longicornis (Adams, 1905) Pseudodoros nigricollis Becker, 1903

Eumerus axincerus Speiser, 1910 Rhingia (Eorhingia) cuthbertsoni Curran, 1939

Eumerus obliquus (Fabricius, 1805) Rhingia (Rhingia) pellucens Bezzi. 1915

Eumerus serratus Bezzi, 1915 Sphiximorpha bezzii (Herve-Bazin. 1913)

Eumerus vansoni Doesburg, 1955 Sphiximorpha dilatipes (Brunetti, 1929)

Mallota dasyops (Wiedemann, 1819) Sphiximorpha speiseri (Herve-Bazin, 1913)

Melanostoma bituberculatum (Loew, 1858) Sphiximorpha swierstrai ( Doesburg, 1955 )

Melanostoma gymnocera Bigot, 1891 Sphiximorpha ugandana (Kertesz, 1913 )

Melanostoma infuscatum Becker, 1909 Syritta bulbus Walker, 1849

This second list, plus that in Table 1, therefore provides a total of 91 species for Zimbabwe. Additional undetermined material in NMSA, in the following genera, has not been included, because the genera are undergoing or are in need of revision:

Chrysogaster Meigen, 1803 Microdon (Microdon) Meigen, 1803

Eumerus Meigen, 1822 Syritta Le Peletier & Serville, 1828

Melanostoma Schiner, 1860