Abai, MR

6th International Congress of DipterologyKey Words: Musca domestica, Aedes aegypti, Anopheles quadrimaculatus,Ochlerotatus taeniorhynchus, air curtains∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗∗Ecological Modelling Using Stiletto Flies (Diptera:Therevidae)Holston, K.C.Swedish Museum of Natural History, S-104 05 Stockholm, SWEDENThe ability to examine primary data for underlying patterns is crucial fordocumenting and investigating asiloid biodiversity, and many asiloidspecies have been designated rare or threatened. Ecologicalcharacterizations for species of Asiloidea, however, are notably limited toqualitative local and regional assessments. A shift to quantitativeapproaches in developing these assessments is becoming increasinglyimportant as taxonomic and phylogenetic resolution improves and the needfor robust characterizations becomes more critical. Extending acquisitionprotocols for physical collections of Asiloidea to complementaryrepositories of specimen-level data provides resources relevant to theseassessments, exemplified by collaborative research on stiletto flies.Expansive geospatial datasets that are available for download fromMandala, the biosystematic database developed for Therevidae, are beingused to develop the first ecological models for therevid species in a contextsuitable for robust comparative studies. Results from these comparativestudies have provided tests for ecological hypotheses, which includehypotheses based on patterns described for well-studied organisms. Thesemodels extend the study of stiletto fly biodiversity to geographic scalesencompassing entire species distributions, providing an importantperspective in evaluating results from local ecological studies. Ecologicalmodelling using specimen-level data is a promising approach towards111