Robber flies and hover flies (Insecta, Diptera, Asilidae and Syrphidae) in beech forests of the central Apennines: a contribution to the inventory of insect biodiversity in Italian State Nature Reserves

By

Lenzi, Alice
Birtele, Daniele
Gisondi, Silvia
Romano, Mario
Petriccione, Bruno
Cerretti, Pierfilippo
Campanaro, Alessandro

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023-05-11

Original Publication

Biodiversity data journal

Volume

11

Pages

1--15

Subjects

Biodiversity , dataset , Diptera , hover flies , insect diversity , Malaise trap , Robber flies , sampling-event data. , Zenodo repository

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia Pensoft Publishers [2013]-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.11.e101327
eLocator: e101327

 

Abstract

The present paper describes a sampling-event dataset on species belonging to two families of Diptera (Syrphidae and Asilidae) collected between 2012 and 2019 in two Italian beech forests located in the central Apennines. The reference dataset consists of an annotated checklist and has been published on Zenodo. Syrphidae and Asilidae are two widespread and key ecological groups, including predator, pollinator and saproxylic species. Despite their pivotal role in both natural and man-made ecosystems, these families are still poorly known in terms of local distribution and open-access sampling-event data are rare in Italy.<br> This open-access dataset includes 2,295 specimens for a total of 21 Asilidae and 65 Syrphidae species. Information about the collection (e.g. place, date, methods applied, collector) and the identification (e.g. species name, author, taxon ID) of the species is provided. Given the current biodiversity crisis, the publication of checklists, sampling-event data and datasets on insect communities in open-access repositories is highly recommended, as it represents the opportunity to share biodiversity information amongst different stakeholders. Moreover, such data are also a valuable source of information for nature reserve managers responsible for monitoring the conservation status of protected and endangered species and habitats and for evaluating the effects of conservation actions over time.