Microdon Sp. Yealand 7th June 2018 – Nigel Jones

Notes on the Syrphidae species checklist

1. The checklist covers three vice-counties: 58, 59 and 60 and therefore, broadly speaking, the hoverflies (Syrphidae) of Lancashire and Cheshire.
2. It is based on a total of 113,867 records stored in a database that has been compiled from a variety of sources e.g. individual recorders, iRecord, rECOrd, Merseyside BioBank, Lancashire Environment Record Network, Greater Manchester Local Records Centre, Hoverfly Recording Scheme and relevant Facebook groups etc.
3. It has been supplied as a spreadsheet, with three separate worksheets giving details for each of the three vice-counties. These are accessed by clicking on the relevant tab at the bottom of each worksheet.
4. This checklist is provisional and should not be taken as a definitive reflection of the actual state, either past or present, of hoverflies in the three vice-counties. It is merely a ‘first attempt’ to give all concerned an indication of the species that have been recorded in these vice-counties, and therefore may be encountered in the future, together with the current known number of records for each species.
5. It is acknowledged that the current database contains many duplicates, questionable records, and not all existing records (especially for 2019). Duplicates do not affect the different species reported although they do affect the number of records. However, all three issues are ever-present deficiencies in any database. As the checklist is an ongoing project it will hopefully evolve into a more accurate representation of the true situation in time.
6. It is therefore intended to publish an updated version of this checklist on a regular basis, possibly annually.
7. Finally, I would like to thank all the individuals and organisations concerned for their kind assistance in providing relevant records and the Tanyptera Project for making it available to the general public.

Glenn Rostron 13 Feb 2020

Ref. Diptera

Ref. True Flies

Published 14/02/2020