Abstract:

Aims:In order to outline the contributions and advances of Diptera taxonomy in China in 2020, we summarize the detailed information of the new taxa, species distribution, and publication cases.

Methods: Potential source articles were searched and identified from online resources. The Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Web of Science, Elsevier, Springer, and other related academic literature index databases were searched.

Results: Totally three new genera and 113 new species of Diptera were reported from China in 2020. We ranked the publications from different perspectives: the most newly described taxa were found in Drosophilidae (31 new species), Lauxaniidae (17 new species), and Chironomidae (17 new species); the regions with the greatest number of new taxa were Yunnan (43 new species), Xizang (19 new species or genera) and Sichuan (17 new species or genera); the journals with the most published new taxa are ZooKeys (30 new species or genera), Zootaxa (27 new species or genera) and Entomotaxonomia (22 new species or genera); The research groups that published the most new taxa are Hongwei Chen, Ding Yang, and Xinhua Wang.

Conclusion: Some progress has been made in the Chinese Diptera classification in 2020, however, gathering a deeper understanding of the dipteran taxonomy remains challenging due to the relatively short research history and insufficient and uneven research foundation. Diptera is a major order of insects, with about 150,000 described species and perhaps more than a quarter of a million species. According to our statistics, 113 new species were described in China last year, then it can be seen that the taxonomic research of Diptera in China has a long way to go. More professionals, more taxonomic group coverage, and wider international collaboration would contribute to the Chinese Diptera research to a higher level.

Key words: taxonomy, new taxon, taxonomist, Diptera, China