Mapping of Northeastern elements of Fungus gnats in Norway

The knowledge about the Nordic fungus gnats has increased tremendously the last decade and at the moment comprises some 1000 known species (including knowledge of a number of species that are supposed to be new to science). New species for Norway and for science are continually discovered, and based on experience from Sweden, Finland and Russia most of those yet to be discovered and recoded in Norway will appear in the northeastern forests. The proposed project is a follow up of a previously financed project to record and map wetland insects of Finnmark county. This time the project will also include Troms’ county, emphasize dryer habitats and use several complementary methods of collecting in search of new elements of the fungus gnat fauna.

The project will generate lots of new species knowledge and, estimated by what is known from nearby surrounding areas in the Nordic region, may result in several hundreds of new and undocumented species for the northern areas of Norway. Up to 100 of them will also be new to Norway. In addition there are already documented materials of a great number of potentially undescribed species from the Nordic region, of which many are expected to appear also in Norway. The project will build upon and utilize results from parallel inventories in Sweden, Finland and Russia. Collecting of new materials is, however, much needed since available materials often is too old for genetic analyses, and paled after decades in alcohol,  The material is thus often less suitable for illustration and descriptions. All species not previously covered will be photographed and DNA barcoded. The results of the project will be incorporated into a research program on the biosystematics and phylogeography of circumpolar species complexes of fungus gnats.

Project leader: Jostein Kjærandsen, Tromsø University Museum
Project period: January 2015 – December 2017
Collaborating partners: Natural History Museum in Oslo and NTNU University Museum