Louse flies (Diptera: Hippoboscidae): United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and Isle of Man: Citizen science data: Part 1, mapping
Data files
Feb 24, 2025 version files 208.86 KB
-
2024MappingtheUKsFlatFliesLocationData.csv
206.59 KB
-
README.md
2.27 KB
Abstract
British for Ornithomology licensed bird Ringers, and other citizen scientists with an interest in entomology, collected over 3500 louse flies and keds (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) for the Mapping the UK's Flat Flies Project. The original project expanded to include the Republic of Ireland and Isle of Man as well as the United Kingdom, and includes a few flies from as early as 2002 as well as those from the main study period of 2020 - 2024.
The flies species included in this datadase are the UK Hippoboscids: louse flies: Crataerina pallida, Ornthomya avicularia, Ornithomya chloropus, Ornithomya fringillina, Ornithomya biloba, Steneteryx hirundinis, Pseudolynchia garzettae and Icosta minor, and the keds Lipoptena cervi, Hippobosca equina and Melophagus ovinus.
This dataset includes the species names, dates of collection (or adult emergence if flies were collected as puparia), and location details to an accuracy of a 1 km grid square for most UK records and 10 km for the records from the Repubic of Ireland.
All host data has been removed to protect the locations of protected and other rare species of birds.
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.zs7h44jkh
Description of the data and file structure
These data were collected in order to map the ranges of the Hippoboscidae across the United Kingdom (UK), including basic mapping and Maximum entropy species distribution modelling (Maxent SDMs). The dataset also includes data from the Republic of Ireland and Isle of Man.
Files and variables
File: 2024MappingtheUKsFlatFliesLocationData.csv
Description:
Variables
- FFsp: The species of flat fly/ louse fly/ ked/ Hippoboscid. The species are indicated by the first letter of the genus, followed by a fullstop (period), and the species name with no spaces. Thus Ornithomya avicularia is “O.avicularia”, Crataerina pallida is “C.pallida”, etc..
- FromPuparium: yes (y) or no (n), indicates whether a fly was collected as a puparium, so that those that were collected from puparia can be removed from the dataset for analyses of their phenology, as being kept indoors where it is warmer may have changed their rate of development or length of diapause.
- DateCollected: Date on which the fly was collected, or date of adult emergence if originally collected as a puparium, given in the format YYYY-MM-DD.
- CountyOrViceCounty: either the County or Vice County from which the specimen was collected.
- Monad: the 1 km Ordnance Survey Grid Square (WGS84) from which UK and Isle of Man flies were collected.
- TenkUK: the 10 km Ordnance Survey Grid Square (WGS84) from which UK and Isle of Man flies were collected.
- TenkIreland: the 10 km Irish Grid Square (Irish Transverse Mercator, ITM, projection) from which Irish flies were collected.
- Altitude: altitude of the collection site in meters above sea level.
- VCno: Vice county number (UK and Isle of Man).
All missing values are indicated by blank squares.
Code/software
This is a comma separated file, .csv file that should be readable on a wide range of software.
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data:
- Not applicable
Data was derived from the following sources:
- Not applicable
This dataset contains some of the raw data from the "Mapping the UK's Flat Flies Project", including the dates flies were caught and their location. It includes data on louse flies and keds collected from the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and Isle of Man, by British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) licensed bird ringers and other citizen scientists with an interest in entomolgy. Most records are from the main study period June 2020 to May 2024, but there are a few earlier records dating back to 2002.
Volunteer BTO bird ringers were sent collection kits and asked to return them with any flies and the relevant metadata at the end of each season. Flies of any age were also accepted from entomologists, and anyone who wanted a Hippoboscid identified via the Hippoboscidae and Nycteribiidae Recording Scheme. Flies were identified by the author using published keys and a binocular microscope.
The species included are: Ornithomya avicularia, Ornithomya chloropus, Ornithomya fringillina, Ornithomya biloba, Icosta minor, Crataerina pallida, Stenepteryx hirundinis, Pseudolynchia garzettae, Lipoptena cervi, Melophagus ovinus and Hippobosca equina.
Host data has been removed to protect the location of protected and rare breeding species. For the same reason location names have been omitted and data is only given as a 1 km Ordnance Survey grid square for the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and a 10 km grid square for the Republic of Ireland.