New records of bee flies (Bombyliidae, Diptera) from the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Abstract Background Bombyliidae, a large Dipteran family, includes over 5380 species globally. Adults are frequently the primary pollinators of a wide variety of flowering plants, and larvae are predators of other holometabolous insects' immature stages. While 50 species of the family have been recorded in the UAE, a comparison with recent studies in neighboring countries suggests that this number underestimates the true diversity of Bombylliid fauna in the UAE. Results In the present study, eleven species, classified in nine genera, five tribes, and three subfamilies are added to the UAE’s bombyliid fauna for the first time. These species are Geron (Geron) gibbosus (Olivier, 1789) [subfamily Toxophorinae], Heterotropus aegyptiacus Paramonov, 1929, H. bisglaucus Bezzi, 1925 [subfamily Heterotropinae], Anthrax dentatus (Becker, 1906), A. zohrayensis El‐Hawagry, 2002, Satyramoeba bipunctata (Fabricius, 1805), Spogostylum incisurale (Macquart, 1840), Heteralonia (Zygodipla) submucorea Greathead, 1980, Exhyalanthrax triangularis (Bezzi, 1924), Petrorossia letho (Wiedemann, 1828), and Xeramoeba near salwae El Hawagry, 2001 [subfamily Anthracinae]. Three of the genera, Geron, Heterotropus and Satyramoeba, and two of the subfamilies, Toxophorinae and Heterotropinae, are recorded for the first time in the UAE. Distributions, diagnoses, remarks on feeding habits and photographs of recorded species are provided. Conclusion The present study adds eleven species to the UAE's bombyliid fauna, classified in nine genera, five tribes, and three subfamilies. This boosts the overall recorded number of bombyliid species in the UAE to 61 species.