The hoverfly collection (Diptera, Syrphidae) of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) at Calavi (Benin)

Georg Goergen1, Pierre Mboma1, Kurt Jordaens2, Kurt Jordaens3, André Heughebaert4

1 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, 08BP0932 Tri Postal, Cotonou, Benin; 2 Africa Museum, Leuvensesteenweg 11-13, 3080, Tervuren, Belgium; 3 Africa Museum, , Belgium; 4 

Corresponding author(s): Georg Goergen ( g.goergen@cgiar.org)Pierre Mboma (mbomapierre@yahoo.fr)Kurt Jordaens (kurt.jordaens@africamuseum.be), Kurt Jordaens (kurt.jordaens@africamuseum.be)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Goergen G, Mboma P, Jordaens K (2020): The hoverfly collection (Diptera, Syrphidae) of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) at Calavi (Benin). v1.1. Royal Museum for Central Africa, Belgium. Dataset/Occurrence. https://ipt.biodiversity.be/resource?r=rmca_iita&v=1.1

Abstract

Dataset comprises historical records from circa 1970 to 2019, focusing on Togo, Benin and Nigeria but with some additional material from further countries in tropical Africa.

The biodiversity centre of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Benin (IITA) houses together with the IFAN museum at Dakar, Senegal one of the largest collection of insects in West Africa. The geographic scope of the collection is mainly Benin, Nigeria and Togo with additional material from various countries in tropical Africa. It constitutes the largest non-plant biodiversity repository within all research centers of the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
The IITA insect collection includes to date more than 370,000 specimens and belongs to the few actives of its kind in the subregion. Roughly 6,000 species from 335 insect families have been identified from the sampled material, of which the Coleoptera and Lepidoptera build the most biodiverse orders with 2300 and 1200 identified species, respectively. On-going research on Diptera focusses mainly on Tephritidae but also on pollinating flies in the framework of a collaborative project (Pollinator Information Network for Two-Winged Insects (PINDIP)) (link to: https://www.pindip.org/) involving several Africa based taxonomic institutions and lead by the Royal Museum of Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium.

Keywords: Occurrence, Specimen

Project details

Project title: PINDIP
Personnel: Kurt Jordaens
Funding: JRS Biodiversity Foundation

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.biodiversity.be/resource?r=rmca_iita

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: The collection covers the family Syrphidae.
Taxonomic ranks
Family: Syrphidae

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Africa
Coordinates: 90°0'0''S and 90°0'0''N Latitude; 180°0'0''W and 180°0'0''E Longitude 

Temporal coverage: May 1, 1970 - December 31, 2019

Methods

Method step description: 1.Data cleaning.
2.Taxon names were compared to the GBIF data using the species matching tool.
Study extent description: Dataset comprises historical records from circa 1970 to 2019, focusing on Togo, Benin and Nigeria but with some additional material from further countries in tropical Africa.
Sampling description: Historical collection records, including various methods such as malaise traps, hand collecting etc.
Quality control description: Historical specimens have been re-identified where possible.

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive The hoverfly collection (Diptera, Syrphidae) of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) at Calavi (Benin)
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt.biodiversity.be/archive.do?r=rmca_iita
Publication date of data: 2020-07-03
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2020-07-02
Hierarchy level: Dataset