The blowflies of the Madeira Archipelago: species diversity, distribution and identification (Diptera, Calliphoridae s. l.)

Catarina Prado E Castro; Krzysztof Szpila; Anabel Martínez-Sánchez; Rego; Isamberto Silva; Artur R M Serrano; Mário Boieiro

doi:10.3897/zookeys.634.9262

The blowflies of the Madeira Archipelago: species diversity, distribution and identification (Diptera, Calliphoridae s. l.)

Zookeys. 2016 Nov 21:(634):101-123. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.634.9262. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Catarina Prado E Castro¹, Krzysztof Szpila², Anabel Martínez-Sánchez³, Rego⁴, Isamberto Silva⁵, Artur R M Serrano⁶, Mário Boieiro⁴

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, PT-3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal.
² Chair of Ecology and Biogeography, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Lwowska 1, PL-87-100 Toruń, Poland.
³ Research Institute of Biodiversity CIBIO, Department of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources, University of Alicante, E-03080 Alicante, Spain.
⁴ Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Azorean Biodiversity Group and Department of Agrarian Sciences, University of Azores, PT-9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Azores, Portugal.
⁵ Madeira Nature Park, PT-9064-512 Funchal, Madeira, Portugal.
⁶ Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, PT-1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal.

Abstract

Knowledge on the taxonomic diversity and distribution of blowflies from the Madeira Archipelago is updated. New and interesting findings are reported for poorly studied islands and islets of this archipelago, together with a brief analysis of the diversity of Macaronesian Calliphoridae s. l. Seven blowfly species were collected during this study, including the first records of Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830, Chrysomya albiceps (Wiedemann, 1819), Lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826), Pollenia rudis (Fabricius, 1794) and Stomorhina lunata (Fabricius, 1805) from Porto Santo, and of Calliphora vicina, Lucilia sericata and Stomorhina lunata from Desertas Islands. The presence of Calliphora loewi Enderlein, 1903 in Madeira Laurisilva forest is discussed and its first instar larva is redescribed, revealing important differences in relation to its original description. An identification key to the adult Madeiran blowflies is provided for the first time.

Keywords: Calliphora loewi; Laurisilva; Macaronesia; island diversity; key; larval description.