Author
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Thompson, F |
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Submitted to: Diptera Diversity: Status and Challenges
Publication Type: Review Article Publication Acceptance Date: 9/4/2008 Publication Date: 5/15/2009 Citation: Thompson, F.C. 2009. Nearctic Diptera: Twenty years later. In: Pape, T., Bickel, D., Meier, R., editors. Diptera Diversity: Status, Challenges and Tools. Leiden, The Netherlands: E.J. Brill. p. 3-46. Interpretive Summary: Flies are a critical component of our world. Some are blood-suckers and vectors of deadly diseases, others are pests of our food, but some are beneficial as pollinators and parasites or predators of pests. Knowledge about flies helps us understand them and adapt or react as appropriate. A review of our knowledge of flies of North America (non tropical areas) is presented. Some twenty thousand different kinds of flies are known from this area, an increase of about two thousand since the last assessment. This information will be interest to those working on biodiversity and conservation as well as policy makers who need to assess the magnitude of our biota. Technical Abstract: An overview of our knowledge of the Diptera of Nearctic America is presented. About two-thirds of all the flies estimated to occur in Nearctic America have been named and documented. Unfortunately, less than one percent of these flies are treated comprehensively in monographs and less than a quarter have been thoroughly revised. This overview updates a similar one done twenty years ago, but find little progress had been made over the years despite the availability of new technologies. |
