A window on remarkable cryptic diversity of the Merodon planifacies subgroup (Diptera: Syrphidae) in the Afrotropical Region.

ABSTRACT: The genus Merodon Meigen (Diptera: Syrphidae) is one of the most species-rich hoverfly genera distributed across the Palaearctic and Afrotropical regions. In the Palaearctic, the genus Merodon boasts 195 described species, while its Afrotropical region pales in comparison, with a mere 17 species documented thus far. As a result of 8 years of fieldwork conducted in the Republic of South Africa, in this paper, we present the description of 11 new species for science with a description of immature stages for 2 species, which increases the diversity of this genus in the Afrotropical region by remarkable 39%. These revelations are based on integrating morphology, molecular analysis (COI gene and 28S rRNA) and geometric morphometry. All described species belong to the Merodon planifacies subgrou

SUBMITTER: Vujic A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11462455 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature