Malaise Trap Catches and the Crisis in Neotropical Dipterology

Abstract

Diptera, or true flies, are extremely diverse but poorly known, especially in the Neotropical Region. Malaise trap catches from four sites are analyzed and found to contain mostly Diptera, with nematocerous families numerically dominant. Taxonomic activity, judged by the number of new species descriptions over the last 7 years, is extremely low for Neotropical taxa, probably because of grossly insufficient resources available to the few available researchers.