A preliminary account of the fly fauna in Garf Raydah Nature Reserve, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with new records and biogeographical remarks (Diptera: Insecta)

ABSTRACTA preliminary list of Diptera (Insecta) in Garf Raydah Nature Reserve (GRNR), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with remarks on their zoogeographic affinities is presented. This is the first in a series of planned faunal studies on different insect orders as an output of a project proposed to study the entire entomofauna of GRNR. A total number of 177 Diptera species belonging to 130 genera, representing 38 families has been listed. Some species have been identified only to genus and listed herein as genera that were not previously recorded from KSA or of a taxonomic or faunal importance. The list records five families, 11 genera and 31 species for the first time in KSA, namely: the families Acroceridae, Asteiidae, Chamaemyiidae, Heleomyzidae and Pipunculidae; the genera Acrocera (Acroceridae), Eremisca (Asilidae), Asteia (Asteiidae), Chamaemyia sp. (Chamaemyiidae), Ochthera (Ephydridae), Physoconops (Conopidae), Pseudoleria (Heleo-myzidae), Salentia (Therevidae), Sapromyza (Lauxaniidae), Sternobrithe...