Brown, B.V., Borkent, A., Cumming, J.M., Wood, D.M., Woodley, N.E., and Zumbado, M.A. (eds)
NRC Research Press, Ottawa
2010; 728 pp. (pages 715-1442).
ISBN 978-0-660-19958-0
US$ 94.95, CAN$ 94.95 (hard cover)

Volume 2 of the Manual of Central American Diptera (MCAD, www.mcadiptera.net) has been published just one year after Volume 1, which has previously been reviewed by this reviewer (Dikow 2011). This comprehensive second volume successfully follows Volume 1 with authors from 16 countries, including the Latin American countries Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama, summarizing our knowledge of the “higher” flies occurring in tropical Mexico and Central America south to the Panama-Colombia border. In total, some 63 families of Cyclorrhapha are dealt with in this volume and every family chapter is well-researched and comprehensive.

As in Volume 1, the publication quality is very good and the only shortcoming (in my opinion) is the absence of uniformity of the illustrations across the entire book, which can distract from the otherwise excellent content. However, to flip through the pages of the Phoridae chapter, to name just one example, is a joy as diagnostic features are illustrated with traditional ink drawings, computer-generated drawings, beautiful wing photographs, and excellent scanning electron micrographs. This megadiverse family, with an estimated 1,100–2,500 species in Costa Rica alone (Brown 1998), deserves this comprehensive treatment, and it will likely foster interest in studies on the taxonomy and diversity of Diptera in the New World. This, of course, is true for all other families covered in this volume, including the only recently described family, Inbiomyiidae, named after the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio) in Costa Rica.

As in Volume 1 of the Manual of Central American Diptera, the 63 individual family chapters are divided into six sections; i.e., Diagnosis, Biology (including economic importance), Classification, Identification (with an accompanying key to genera), Synopsis of the fauna, and Literature Cited. Each chapter also features a drawing or digital illustration of a selected species as a frontispiece. Note that Volume 1 contains color photographs of all Diptera families treated in the MCAD, which were predominantly taken in the wild by Stephen A. Marshall (University of Guelph).

For about half of the 63 families, the keys to genera apply not only to Central America, but include the fauna of much larger regions. For example, the key to Scatophagid genera covers Central America and the West Indies. Keys to the entire New World (Nearctic + Neotropical regions) are available for (in order of appearance) Neriidae, Pseudopomyzidae, Psilidae (genera and subgenera), Richardiidae, Ctenostylidae, Lauxaniidae, Chamaemyiidae, Coelopidae, Clusiidae, Odiniidae, Tethinidae, Canacidae, Milichiidae, Camillidae, Diastatidae, Streblidae, and Nycteribiidae. The entire world fauna is covered for Tanypezidae, Lonchaeidae, Rhopalomeridae, and Nannodastiidae, while keys to the genera of the Neotropical Region are available for Piophilidae, Platystomatidae, Sepsidae, Anthomyzidae, Periscelididae, Asteiidae, Drosophilidae, Anthomyiidae, and Rhinophoridae. The keys for Syrphidae, Micropezidae, and Conopidae cover all genera known from the northern Neotropical Region and the keys for Tephritidae and Sphaeroceridae cover the fauna of the Neotropical Region and Nearctic Mexico. In addition to these keys to imagines, a larval key to Syrphid subfamilies and genera of Central America, a key to the eggs of Psilidae, and a key to the first, second, and third instar larvae and puparia of Oestridae of Central America have been included.

Because there are 159,294 species of Diptera known today (Pape et al. 2011, www.diptera.org) and the Central American fauna is very diverse, this book is of great interest to dipterists and general entomologists who are tasked with the identification of Diptera species in this region. In addition to the keys, the short generic synopses are of particular importance; these synopses were introduced to Diptera manuals as a new feature in MCAD Volume 1. They allow the user to quickly establish how many species of a particular taxon are found in Central America, what the outstanding morphological and biological features are, and what the best available resource for further study is. Since several Cyclorrhapha families are important in agriculture as harmful pests or beneficial parasitoids, this information along with the keys will provide valuable resources to dipterists and non-dipterists.

In summary, I can only recommend this book to taxonomists and systematists focusing on Central American Diptera or even on faunas elsewhere in the world. For entomologists and ecologists in general, this second volume is a great resource to learn about Diptera diversity in Central America. With the publication of Volume 2 of the Manual of Central American Diptera, the Diptera community has proven again that a comprehensive treatment of a diverse fauna can be achieved, and we are now looking forward to work on the Manual of Afrotropical Diptera (www.afrotropicalmanual.net), which is currently in preparation.

References Cited

Brown, B.V. 1998. Phoridae of Costa Rica. Phorid Newsletter 7: 1–3. http://www.phorid.net/phoridae/news/pnews7.html

Dikow, T. 2011. Book review: Manual of Central American Diptera, Volume 1 by Brown, B.V. et al. (eds) 2009. Am. Entomol. 57: 121–122. http://www.entsoc.org/book-review-manual-central-american-diptera-volume-1

Pape, T., V. Blagoderov, and M. B. Mostovski. 2011. Order Diptera Linnaeus, 1758. In Z.Q. Zhang (ed.) Animal biodiversity: an outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness. Zootaxa 3148: 222–229. http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/zt03148p229.pdf

Torsten Dikow
Biodiversity Synthesis Center
Field Museum of Natural History
Chicago, IL 60605
e-mail: torsten@tdvia.de

American Entomologist
Vol. 58, No.4, Winter 2012