Catalogue of the diptera of belgium

In the present catalogue, the scattered information on the occurrence of Diptera in Belgium is compiled by several authors. It is based on the literature, the collections of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and sometimes unpublished information of the contributors. A survey of the history of dipterology in Belgium is presented. During the last decade, a sampling campaign with Malaise traps is running to get an idea of the faunal composition of the different zoogeographical regions in Belgium. At the same time data are gattered on diversity, phenology and activity of males and females. Annotated checklists and taxonomical revisions leading to identification handbooks are prepared. Into the introduction to each family, the main characters of the family, the biotopes and the biology of the larvae and adults are briefly treated and references to identification keys are given. The families and their phylogeny followed are those proposed by Hennig (1973) but adapted by Oosterbroek (1981). 98 families are cited with 4,474 valid species distributed over 1,565 genera and subgenera. 3,251 synonyms are quoted. The bibliography contains about 970 references. Among them, nearly 500 papers and short communications deal with taxonomy, systematics and faunistics of Diptera in Belgium only. Papers on physiology or biochemistry are not cited. An index is provided giving the species with their author, date of publication and genus. The present catalogue is at the same time a catalogue of the material conserved in the collections of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Following taxonomical changes are proposed : Dasyhelea brevitibialis (Goetghebuer, 1919) stat. n. (Ceratopogonidae), Dasyhelea corinneae nom. n. pro Dasyhelea scutellata (Meigen, 1830) (Ceratopogonidae), Thereva corinneae nom. n. pro Thereva aurata Loew, 1954 (Therevidae), Cephalops flavomaculatus (Strobl, 1910) syn. n. of Cephalops perspicuus (de Meijere, 1905)