Biogeographical patterns of the genus Merodon Meigen, 1803 (Diptera: Syrphidae) in islands of the eastern Mediterranean and adjacent mainland

The objective of this study was to obtain a biogeographical perspective on the hoverfly genus Merodon (Diptera, Syrphidae) based on data from 32 islands in the Aegean and Ionian archipelagoes vis‐à‐vis the adjacent mainland. In this part of the world, the genus comprises 57 species, out of more than...

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Published in:	Insect conservation and diversity Vol. 9; no. 3; pp. 181 - 191
Main Authors:	Vujić, Ante, Petanidou, Theodora, Tscheulin, Thomas, Cardoso, Pedro, Radenković, Snežana, Ståhls, Gunilla, Baturan, Željana, Mijatović, Gorana, Rojo, Santos, Pérez-Bañón, Celeste, Devalez, Jelle, Andrić, Andrijana, Jovičić, Snežana, Krašić, Dušanka, Markov, Zlata, Radišić, Dimitrije, Tataris, Giorgos
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	St Albans Royal Entomological Society 01-05-2016 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects:	Biogeography Diptera distribution patterns eco-geographical variables hoverflies islands Merodon species-area relationship Syrphidae MED, Aegean Sea MED, Eastern Mediterranean
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Summary:	The objective of this study was to obtain a biogeographical perspective on the hoverfly genus Merodon (Diptera, Syrphidae) based on data from 32 islands in the Aegean and Ionian archipelagoes vis‐à‐vis the adjacent mainland. In this part of the world, the genus comprises 57 species, out of more than 160 species described worldwide. The importance of eco‐geographical variables (area, elevation, distance to the nearest island and distance to the nearest mainland) and the species–area relationship (SAR) were studied in order to explain patterns of species richness. All tests supported the dynamic equilibrium concept. The area and distance to closest island were found to be the most important drivers of species richness on the Aegean and Ionian archipelagoes. Out of three SAR models evaluated in this study, the exponential function fitted our data best. It was found that a power model with no intercept value (C = 1) performed even better by using symbolic regression for non‐linear equation optimisation. The cluster and null‐model analyses performed to detect inter‐island similarities and origins of the insular Merodon fauna indicated a clear influence of colonisation history of the species on different islands. The results imply that the current distributions of Merodon species in the study area exhibit the combined effects of historical and present‐day processes.
Bibliography:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/icad.12156 European Union (European Social Fund - ESF) istex:5246B947BC4EF911309F9EE9705BF9BD40E15E46 ArticleID:ICAD12156 National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) - Research Funding Program Figure S1. Species accumulation curves as an indication of the sampling effort through plot of cumulative number of species versus collecting days for each island.Table S1. Composition of Merodon fauna (by zoogeographical categories as in Table ) and eco-geographical variables for eastern Mediterranean Islands. Numbers in zoogeographical categories rows indicate number of recorded species for each category per island. Numbers in species rows indicate number of collected specimens per island.Table S2. Presence of different zoogeographical categories of Merodon species on eastern Mediterranean Islands (categories as in Table ).Table S3. Presence of four main zoogeographical categories of Merodon species on eastern Mediterranean Islands. ark:/67375/WNG-MS9MSBSH-6 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1752-458X 1752-4598
DOI:	10.1111/icad.12156