The Black Fungus Gnats (Diptera, Sciaridae) of Norway – Part I: species records published until December 2019, with an updated checklist

Abstract

Black Fungus Gnats (Sciaridae) are a megadiverse, cosmopoliltan family of bibionomorph Diptera. Even in Europe, the continent with the longest tradition in sciarid taxonomy, numerous taxonomic issues remain unresolved and countless species await discovery and description. The fauna of Norway is in these respects no exception. Recognising considerable knowledge gaps, the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre provided substantial funding for a detailed inventory of the Sciaridae species occurring in Norway, which was realised in 2014–2018. The results of this project will be published in a series of papers, of which the first is presented here, summarising available data on the taxonomy, faunistics, and autecology of Norwegian Sciaridae beginning with Zetterstedt’s pioneering work in 1838 and ending with 31 December 2019 as the cut-off date. All published records from that period were analysed. The result is a list of 143 species and four unplaced names. Following a consistent scheme, verified locality details are provide including alternative spellings, habitats, and flight times of adults in Norway, literature citations for the faunistic records, and general taxonomic references for classification or identification. A checklist of the sciarid fauna of Norway and a complete list of the relevant literature are also presented.