Review Article |
Corresponding author: Xingyue Liu ( xingyue_liu@yahoo.com ) Academic editor: David Langor
© 2019 Xingyue Liu.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Liu X (2019) Megaloptera of Canada. In: Langor DW, Sheffield CS (Eds) The Biota of Canada – A Biodiversity Assessment. Part 1: The Terrestrial Arthropods. ZooKeys 819: 393-396. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.819.23948
|
An updated summary on the fauna of Canadian Megaloptera is provided. Currently, 18 species are recorded in Canada, with six species of Corydalidae and 12 species of Sialidae. This is an increase of two species since 1979. An additional seven species are expected to be discovered in Canada. Barcode Index Numbers are available for ten Canadian species.
alderflies, biodiversity assessment, Biota of Canada, dobsonflies, fishflies, Megaloptera
The order Megaloptera (dobsonflies, fishflies, and alderflies) is one of the three orders of Neuropterida, and is characterized by the prognathous adult head, the broad anal area of hind wing and the exclusively aquatic larval stages (
Southern Canada is probably the northern limit of the distribution range of Nearctic Megaloptera. Recent phylogeographic studies suggest that the Canadian population of a fishfly species (i.e., Nigronia serricornis (Say)) was formed very rapidly after the Pleistocene glacial period (
All known Canadian species of Megaloptera are also found in the United States of America.
For Canadian alderflies, the most important faunal work after
DNA barcodes are available for all but one species of known Canadian Corydalidae, but for less than half of Sialidae (Table
Taxon1 | No. species reported in |
No. species currently known from Canada | Number of BINs2 available for Canadian species | Est. no. undescribed or unrecorded species in Canada | General distribution by ecozone3 | Information sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Corydalidae | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | Boreal Shield, Pacific Maritime, Atlantic Maritime, Mixedwood Plains |
|
Sialidae | 10 | 12 | 5 | 4 | Boreal Shield, Boreal Plains, Pacific Maritime, Atlantic Maritime, Montane Cordillera, Mixedwood Plains, Prairies |
|
Total | 16 | 18 | 10 | 7 |
Thirteen of the 18 species of Canadian megalopterans have their larval stage described, and their life history is known (
Additional surveys of Megaloptera habitats in southern Alberta and British Columbia, especially southwestern British Columbia, are warranted to fill in gaps in distribution and to ascertain whether other species are present. Fresh material of all megalopterans, especially Sialidae, is needed for obtaining DNA barcodes.