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Ent. Tidskr. 132 (2011) Rune Bygebjerg
A population of the picture-winged fly Platystoma
seminatione (Fabricius, 1775) found in Skåne – new to the Swedish fauna (Diptera: Platystomatidae)
RunE BygEBjERg
Bygebjerg, R.: A population of the picture-winged fly Platystoma seminatione (Fabricius, 1775) found in Skåne – new to the Swedish fauna (Diptera: Platystomatidae). [En popula- tion av bredmunsflugan Platystoma seminatione (Fabricius, 1775) funnen i Skåne – ny för den svenska fauna (Diptera: Platystomatidae).] – Entomologisk Tidskrift 132 (1):
32-34. uppsala, Sweden 2011. ISSn 0013-886x.
The picture-winged fly Platystoma seminatione was in 2010 recorded for the first time in Sweden. Several specimens were found on a site near Svaneholm in Skåne. The species is recorded from most neighboring countries, and so the Swedish occurrence was expected.
The family Platystomatidae is in Sweden represented by only one other species.
Rune Bygebjerg, Zoologiska Museet, Lunds Universitet, Helgonavägen 3, 223 62 Lund.
E-mail: rune.bygebjerg@zool.lu.se
same plants as the first time, and were found only within a very small area. On another visit on july 27th, the area was searched again, but this time only a single specimen was found. The location was also visited a few times in August and Sep- tember, but on these occasions the search for P.
seminatione was without positive result. Based on the number of observations in 2010, the spe- cies seems to be well established at this site near Svaneholm.
Some of the collected Swedish specimens of P. seminatione are deposited in Zoologiska Mu- seet in Lund, and others are donated to Zoologisk Museum in Copenhagen.
The family Platystomatidae
Platystomatidae is part of the superfamily Teph- ritoidea including the family Tephritidae with nearly 80 species in Sweden. Merz (1996) and Beuk (2002) list the number of species of Platy- stomatidae in some European countries. In sev- eral countries in nV Europe only two species are recorded, but e.g. in Poland four species are known and in germany three species (Beuk On a visit to Svaneholm Castle near Skurup in
Skåne, june 15th 2010, four specimens of the picture-winged fly Platystoma seminatione (Fa- bricius, 1775) were found. This is the first record of the species and genus from Sweden. The co- lour pattern on the wings is typical for species of the genus Platystoma (Fig. 1). The underside of abdomen is partly yellowish, in some specimens in a very bright yellow colour. The back of the head has a characteristic form in lateral view.
The site where the imagines where found (Fig.
2), is the path connecting the buildings of the castle Svaneholm and the protected nature area Hästhagen. The later is dominated by deciduous forest. On one side of the path is a cultivated field with rapeseed (Brassica napus).
The flies were initially observed, while they were resting or walking around on leaves of Ae- gopodium podagraria, and later other specimens were found by sweeping the surrounding vegeta- tion with an insect net. The location was visited again on june 25th and july 3rd, and on both these days several specimens of P. seminatione were found. They were swept from exactly the
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Ent. Tidskr. 132 (2011) The fly Platystoma seminatione new to Sweden
2002). The world fauna counts more than thou- sand species (Beuk 2002).
Larvae of Platystomatidae develop in decay- ing plant materials or in roots. According to Foote (1985) host plants of 8 of the 30 nearctic species of Rivellia are known, and these spe- cies are all associated to Leguminosae plants.
The larvae of Rivellia pallidata Loew attack the nitrogen-fixing nodules on the roots. Imagines of Platystomatidae have been reported visiting dung, carrion, and occasionally they visit flow- ers.
Examples of rather peculiar mating rituals are known in several species of Platystomatidae (e.g.: Petersen 1961). In the genus Platystoma this behaviour has been well documented (e.g.:
The world of minibeasts, www.arthropods.de).
The family Platystomatidae is in Sweden rep- resented by only one other species, Rivellia syn- genesiae (Fabricius, 1781). It is rather common in the southernmost part of Sweden. Wahlgren (1919) mentions it from the districts Skåne to Bohuslän and Västergötland. In the collections in Zoologiska Museet, Lund and in Riksmuseet, Stockholm, the northernmost records are from Värmland and uppland. On Artportalen the spe- cies is also reported from Dalarna. R. syngene- siae is most often found in or near meadows.
greve (1990) suggests an association to plants of the genus Lotus.
Figure 1. Male of Platystoma seminatione. Svane- holm, June 25th 2010. The second species of this family in Sweden.
Hanne av Platystoma seminatione, en fluga som hör till familjen bredmunsflugor och hittades för första gången i Sverige under 2010. Denna art är den andra inom familjen som hittas i Sverige.
Figure 2. The site near Svaneholm where a population Platystoma semi- natione was found.
Fyndplatsen vid Svaneholm nära Skurup i Skåne där en population av Platystoma semi- natione höll till på en mycket liten yta under juni och juli 2010.
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Ent. Tidskr. 132 (2011) Rune Bygebjerg
The species
P. seminatione was described the by the Danish entomologist j. C. Fabricius based on material from germany. Several subspecies have been described (Soos & Papp 1984). A key to the European species in the genus Platystoma was published by Hendel (1913); this is still the most complete work on the European fauna.
In England imagines of P. seminatione are found in May and june (Colyer & Hammond 1951). In other parts of Europe they are recorded from May to October, presumably in two gen- erations. The species is reported from several types of habitats, including gardens.
It was expected that P. seminatione could be living in Sweden, and the species is recorded from most European countries including Fin- land, Poland, germany, the netherlands and England. In norway the only record is a female specimen captured in 1982 in a Malaise-trap (greve 1990, pers. comm.). Records from Den- mark are mentioned e.g. in Petersen & Meier (2001), but no Danish material exists in the collections at the museums in Copenhagen and Århus. Lyneborg (1964) does not mention any Danish records, and I have not been able to find any documentation for occurrence in Denmark prior to 2009, when an observation from Møns Klint was reported (www.fugleognatur.dk/wild- aboutdenmark). The large amount of data pub- lished on this private homepage includes quite a lot of doubtful observations and misidentifi- cations, but this observation seems reliable, al- though the published photo for some reason has been removed.
Historically the dipterous fauna of the prov- ince Skåne has been well investigated, and it is most likely that P. seminatione is a rather recent newcomer in Sweden, and thus an example among several insect species, which are expand- ing their distributions northwards. The most likely scenario for P. seminatione in the near- est future is an expanding of the distribution to other areas in the southernmost parts of Sweden and Denmark.
Acknowledgments
Lita greve jensen kindly helped with information on Platystomatidae in norway, and niklas jönsson provided information on material in the collection in
Riksmuseet. Sven Hellqvist helped with constructive comments on the manuscript.
References
Beuk, P.L.T. 2002. Checklist of the Diptera of the netherlands. – KnnV uitgeverij, utrecht.
Colyer, C.n. & Hammond, C.O. 1951. Flies of the British Isles. – Frederick Warne and Co. Ltd. Lon- Foote, B.A. 1985. Biology of Rivellia pallidata don.
(Diptera: Platystomatidae), a Consumer of the nitrogen-fixing Root nodules of Amphicarpa bracteata (Leguminosae). – j. Kans. entomol.
Soc. 58: 27-35.
greve, L. 1990. The family Platystomatidae (Diptera) in norway. – Fauna norv. Ser. B 37: 107-110.
Hendel, F. 1913. Die gattung Platystoma Meigen (Dipt.). Eine monographishe Übersicht die Arten.
– Zoologische jahrbücher. Abteilung für System- atik, geographie und Biologie der Tiere 35: 55- Lyneborg, L. 1964. Danske acalyptrate fluer. 2. Psili-126.
dae, Platystomidae og Otitidae (Diptera). – Ent.
Meddr. 32: 367-384.
Merz, B. 1996. Zur Faunistik der Pyrgotidae, Plat- ystomatidae und ulidiidae (=Otitidae) (Diptera, Tephritoidea) der Schweiz mit spezieller Berück- sichtgung von Otites Latreille. – Mitt. Schweiz.
entomol. ges. 69: 405-416.
Petersen, A. 1961. Parringsleg iagttaget hos Rivel- lia syngenesiae (Diptera, Platystomidae). – Ent.
Meddr. 31:115.
Petersen, F.T. & Meier, R. 2001. A preliminary list of the Diptera of Denmark. – Steenstrupia 26(2):
119-276.
Soos, A. & Papp, L. 1984. Catalogue of Palaearctic Diptera 9. – Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest.
Wahlgren, E. 1919. Tvåvingar. Diptera 2. Andra un- derordningen. Flugor. Cyclorapha. Andra grup- pen. Schizophora. Fam. 13-20. – Svensk Insekt- fauna 11: 246.
Sammanfattning
En ny flugart har hittats i Sverige vid Svaneholm i Skåne. Arten, Platystoma seminatione (Fabri- cius, 1775) tillhör familjen bredmunsflugor, som vi enbart haft en enda art av i landet tidi- gare. Flugorna befann sig inom ett mycket litet område, bara några kvadratmeter, och kunde påträffas vid fyra olika besök mellan 15 juni och 27 juli, men inte senare. Larverna lever i rötter av någon växt. Det troligaste är att denna fluga nyligen expanderat sin utbredning in i Sverige och om det varma somrarna fortsätter kommer expansionen norrut förmodligen fortsätta.
