Drosophilidae and 48 other dipterous families from localities in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia

On high-temperature summer days, with strong wind and low humidity, species of Drosophila and related genera, and of Diptera generally, are more frequently found in places that are darker (suggesting negative phototropism), lower down (suggesting positive geotropism) and damper or where desiccation stress is minimal (suggesting positive hydrotropism). At three such shaded, humid, gully sites, two in the NSW North Coast bioregion (IBRA NNC17, NNC13) and three in the South Eastern Highlands bioregion (IBRA SEH01) drosophilid flies were surveyed for short periods by net-sweeping during hot summer months of 2018–2019. All other Diptera were retained and sorted to family. Very little is known of dipterous diversity at the family level at any one locality in Australia. This is because few studies have immediate access to expert taxonomists who can provide determinations right across the order with very high confidence. Equally unusual is for a single survey to focus on all families in one large order (Diptera) and, at the same time, on all species in one of those families (Drosophilidae), as is the result presented here. Surveys ceased at each bioregion after about 2500 specimens had been collected (Table 4).

在高温、强风且低湿度的夏日，果蝇属（Drosophila）及其近缘属昆虫，以及广义的双翅目（Diptera）昆虫，更常出没于光线较暗（提示其具负趋光性（negative phototropism））、地势较低（提示其具正趋地性（positive geotropism））、湿度更高或干燥胁迫（desiccation stress）最小的区域（提示其具正趋湿性（positive hydrotropism））。本研究于2018-2019年炎热夏季的数月间，通过扫网采集法对5处符合上述荫蔽湿润沟谷生境条件的样点开展了短期调查：其中2处位于新南威尔士州北海岸生物地理区（IBRA NNC17、NNC13），另外3处位于东南部高地生物地理区（IBRA SEH01），调查对象为果蝇科（Drosophilidae）昆虫。其余所有双翅目昆虫均被留存并鉴定至科级分类单元。目前澳大利亚境内任何单一地点的双翅目昆虫科级多样性信息都极为匮乏，究其原因，绝大多数研究无法直接接触到能够对整个双翅目类群做出高置信度鉴定的资深分类学专家。而本研究同时针对双翅目这一大型昆虫类群的所有科，以及果蝇科的所有物种开展调查，这种研究设计在同类工作中同样少见。每个生物地理区的采集工作均在累计采集约2500份标本后终止（详见表4）。