Syrphidae of Southern Illinois: Diversity, floral associations, and preliminary assessment of their efficacy as pollinators.

ABSTRACT: Syrphid flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) are a cosmopolitan group of flower-visiting insects, though their diversity and importance as pollinators is understudied and often unappreciated. Data on 1,477 Syrphid occurrences and floral associations from three years of pollinator collection (2017-2019) in the Southern Illinois region of Illinois, United States, are here compiled and analyzed. We collected 69 species in 36 genera off of the flowers of 157 plant species. While a richness of 69 species is greater than most other families of flower-visiting insects in our region, a species accumulation curve and regional species pool estimators suggest that at least 33 species are yet uncollected. In order to further the understanding of Syrphidae as pollinators in the Southern Illinois region, we produ

SUBMITTER: Chisausky JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7644652 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature