Allograpta

Allograpta
Allograpta obliqua male
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Syrphidae
Subfamily: Syrphinae
Tribe: Syrphini
Genus: Allograpta
Osten Sacken, 1875[1]
Type species
Scaeva obliqua
Say, 1823
Subgenera
Synonyms
  • Miogramma Frey, 1946[2]
  • Neoscaeva Frey, 1946
  • Helenomyia Bankowska, 1962
  • Paraxanthogramma Tao & Chiu, 1971 (Unav.)
  • Costarica Mengual & Thompson, 2009 (Homonym)

Allograpta is a very large and diverse genus of hoverflies present throughout the world except most of the palearctic region. The adults are brightly coloured flower pollinators and most larvae have a predatory feeding mode involving soft-bodied sternorrhynchans. Certain species have diverged from this and their larvae have been found to be leaf-miners, stem-borers or pollen-feeders.[3]

Allograpta is currently being studied using both molecular and morphological methods to produce a robust phylogeny of the genus and its related genera. Preliminary studies show the genus to be monophyletic with the genera Sphaerophoria and Exallandra placed within which obviously complicates matters. A more complete review is needed before any major taxonomic changes can occur i.e. splitting the genus up or incorporating related genera,[1][4] though the former subgenus Fazia was elevated to genus in 2020.[5]

  1. ^ a b c Mengual, Ximo; Ståhls, Gunilla; Rojo, Santos (2008). "Molecular phylogeny of Allograpta (Diptera, Syrphidae) reveals diversity of lineages and non-monophyly of phytophagous taxa". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 49 (3). Elsevier: 715–727. Bibcode:2008MolPE..49..715M. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2008.09.011. PMID 18848633.
  2. ^ Smith, Kenneth G.V.; Vockeroth, J.R. (1980). Crosskey, R.W. (ed.). Catalogue of the Diptera of the Afrotropical Region (Print). London: British museum (Natural History). ISBN 0565-00821-8.
  3. ^ : K. Nishida, Rotheray, G., F. Thompson, C.. First non-predaceous syrphinae flower fly (Diptera: Syrphidae): A new leaf-mining Allograpta from Costa Rica
  4. ^ Ximo Mengual; Carlos Ruiz; Santos Rojo; Gunilla Ståls; Frederic Christian Thompson (2009). "A conspectus of the flower fly genus Allograpta (Diptera: Syrphidae) with description of a new subgenus and species" (PDF). Zootaxa. 2214: 1–28. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
  5. ^ Ximo Mengual, Gunilla Ståhls & Jeffrey H. Skevington (2021) Life on an island: the phylogenetic placement of Loveridgeana and Afrotropical Sphaerophoria (Diptera: Syrphidae) inferred from molecular characters, Systematics and Biodiversity, 19:1, 22-53, DOI: 10.1080/14772000.2020.1795743