Preliminary List of Syrphidae known from Suriname and British and French Guiana

The family of Syrphid flies (“Hover flies” or “Flower flies”) is richly represented in the Neotropical region. FLUKE’S Catalogue of Neotropical Syrphidae, finished in September 1953, records 107 genera and 1,507 species, exclusive of 100 “species incertae sedis.” (In actual fact, 1,508 species are enumerated, but Baccha picta Wiedemann (FLUKE, p. 259) is an Ethiopian species.) The large genera Volucella with 274 species, Baccha with 269 species, Mesograpta with 130 species, and Eristalis with 106 species, seem to have had their greatest opportunity of development in this region. However, some of the names will probably prove to be synonyms, since the descriptions by earlier authors are often too short and insufficient to enable a species to be recognized with certainty. As a rule, the species described by recent authors are quite recognizable. Up to a few years ago the number of Syrphids described or known from Suriname was very small. Moreover, one of them, Volucella ardua Wiedemann, proved to be synonymous with Volucella tympanitis Fabricius, as stated by CURRAN, who studied WIEDEMANN’S type specimens. Of course, the number of the species taken on occasion in Suriname is somewhat larger; but, as far as is known, no enumeration has ever been published.