An annotated list of the Chamaemyiidae (Diptera, Acalyptrata) of Turkey with new records and additional data

Abstract A list of all the species of Chamaemyiidae known from Turkey is compiled from the literature and supplemented by new records. A total of 40 species in five genera is given with updated nomenclature. One undescribed species is illustrated but not named for lack of males. The distribution of each species outside Turkey is summarised.


Introduction
Silver flies of the family Chamaemyiidae have an interesting biology with a potential for the biological control of pest species of aphids and adelgids (Aphidoidea) and scales and mealybugs (Coccoidea) that attack crops, horticultural plants, and forest trees. Silver flies are found in all continents except Antarctica, but much remains to be discovered in nearly all zoogeographical regions.
When compared to the other zoogeographical regions, the Palaearctic is relatively well studied with many species having been associated with their prey and the prey with their host plants, largely summarised by Tanasijtshuk (1986). Nevertheless, the distribution of most species remains inadequately known and there is always more to discover about the biology of a majority of the species. Southern Europe and Turkey through to Central Asia is a region rich in species, reflecting the diversity of habitats and flora. No doubt, more species await discovery and description. Their taxonomy can be difficult owing to the very similar external appearance of species within each genus.
The first record of a species of Chamaemyiidae from Turkey appears to be that of Süreyya and Hovasse (1931). They record larvae of Leucopis sp. very successfully attacking the scale insect Marchalina hellenica Genn. damaging pine trees on Princes Islands (Turkey). Bodenheimer (1953) reported on an unspecified species of Leucopis Meigen, 1830. Three species of Neoleucopis McAlpine, 1971 were examined by McAlpine in his revision of the genus (McAlpine 1971). Several more species were added by various authors since then (Eichhorn 1968;McAlpine 1978;Düzgüneş et al. 1982, Tanasijtshuk 1986, Elmali 1997Kaydan et al. 2006, Raspi and Ebejer 2008, Raspi 2013. In the last two articles, the authors added more data and in each publication a new species of Parochthiphila Czerny, 1904 was described. Kaydan et al. (2006) also gave the prey species and their host plants. In a recent paper, Satar et al. (2015) gave a summary of the biological and ecological role of species in this family, added four new records for Turkey and provided biological data based from their own rearing records of several species of Leucopis. They gave no new records of species in other genera.
The aim of this article is to briefly review what is known of the Turkish fauna based on the literature, recent field work of one of us (MB) and supplementary material collected by Dr Jindřich Roháček (Opava, Czech Republic). We list all the species recorded in these earlier papers and add new records for the country and further locality and chorological data on some previously known species. Nomenclature is updated.

Materials and methods
Species are listed in alphabetical order under each genus. Previous records are cited below each species name. Additional locality data based on the recently collected material is included and new records for Turkey are indicated. Depositories of specimens are in the M Barták collection, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, unless otherwise stated and given in parenthesis at the end of each data entry thus: MJE -MJ Ebejer collection, Cowbridge, UK; MSO -Museum Silesiae Opava, Czech Republic. Material cited in this paper was collected by water pan traps (PT), Malaise traps (MT), and by hand held sweep net (SW).

Leucopis grunini
Distribution: Italy, Cyprus, southern Russia, and Middle Asian states. New record for Turkey.
Remarks. This distinctive species appears to be undescribed, but for lack of males it cannot be named here. Another dark species of Leucopis (L. albostriata Czerny, 1936) exhibits distinct sexual dimorphism and so it may eventually prove difficult to correctly associate males with these specimens in the future. The two specimens noted here are dark, shiny, brownish black with a thin coating of pollinosity only on the head and on the pleura. Neither specimen is teneral, but one has the palp and the whole antenna yellow and the other has the palp, pedicel, and post pedicel dark brown. In other respects they are identical. Such small differences can be attributed equally to closely related species or to intraspecific variation. This supports our caution in not naming this species. The safest way to determine if these are one or two species would be to rear males and females simultaneously from a single colony.

Remarks.
A single male specimen of Leucopis could not be identified. It is probably a variant of one of the commoner species as it shows no differentiating external characters but only small differences in the shape of the aedeagus. Without more material it is not possible to come to any definitive conclusion on the taxonomic status of this specimen. Distribution: Europe, from Britain south to Gibraltar and west to western Russia. Introduced to North and South America and New Zealand.

Conclusions
Many scientists consider Anatolia to have been an important Pleistocene glacial refugium, which together with the heterogeneous topography and geographical position of Anatolia at the junction of three biodiversity hotpots, the Caucasus, Irano-Anatolian, and Mediterranean (Gür 2016), may have contributed to a very high animal diversity. This, alongside an insufficient level of faunistic research, may explain the recent increase in the number of known Chamaemyiidae from Turkey.
Turkey may have one of the most diverse faunas of Chamaemyiidae in the Southern Palaearctic. We list 40 species in five genera including seven new records and one undescribed new species. Notwithstanding this list, we think the fauna still remains poorly known. There are several species present in adjacent countries that have not yet been found in Turkey, a country that offers a very diverse topography and plant life. Sampling in as many diverse habitats as possible, in different seasons, and rearing silver flies from populations of their hosts will yield interesting results, thus adding to the knowledge of the biology and ecology of this family.