Record of Drosophilidae in two geographical areas of the State of Guerrero, Mexico

Abstract

About 140 Drosophilidae species are known for Mexico, a low number compared with the worldwide of 3341. Willing to make a contribution for a better knowlegde of this taxon in Mexico, we realized a series of collections in two geographical zones of the State of Guerrero. In the Central zone five sites were sampled all in forested or chaparral areas, in contrast the second zone correspond to the Costa Chica in cultivated areas of corn and mixture of corn and other vegetables. The flies were captured using as a bait fermenting fruits and using an entomological net. Once the flies they were captured and carried to the laboratory and kept in 70% alcohol. After the collections were finished the identification of the material started. First we separated the flies according to their morphological differences, we used for each group a taxonomical key. We were able to identify 43 different species plus three more that we were not able to identify with the available key. These 46 species plus ten more previously recorded in the State add up for a total of 56 in the sampled areas of Guerrero. We recommend more collections for this kind of fauna not only in the State but in all Mexico since the high ecological diversity in the country suggest a larger number of species of this family.