Comparison between Fleshfly-Taxocoenoses of the Greek Aegean and Ionian Seacoast, the Dalmatian Adriatic Seacoast, the Spanish Catalonian Seacoast and respectively adjacent inland-landscapes (Diptera : Sarcophagidae : Sarcophaginae)

The taxocoenoses (associations) of(hilltopping) fleshflies visiting organic substrates, mainly offal etc of the Greek Aegean and Ionian Seacoast, of t he Adriatic Seacoast and of the Spanish Catalonia Seacoast including the ad jacent habitats, mainly mountain ranges, are compared. The long-term study basing on the statistic evaluation of several thousand specimens representi ng about 60 taxa indicates that the fleshfly taxocoenoses of the 2 secondar y distributional centers of the Holomediterranean territory, viz the E' or Pontdmediterranean and the W' or Atlantomediterranean show distinct both sy necological and distributional differences. They are reflected in the relat ive population densities and in the species spectres of these two areas. Fo llowing fleshfly taxa are characteristic of the two centers: Salemea ferox, Thyrsocnema belgiana, Liopygia cultellata, Heteronychia siciliana and Hete ronychia pandellei are characteristic of of the west, and Heteronychia giga s, Heteronychia vervesi, Heteronychia macedonica H portschinskyana, H marit ima and H kataphygionis of the east. The W' mediterranean species are not s trictly Iberian endemics, because the interior, purely Iberian fleshfly fau na is poorly known and the discovery of endemic Iberian taxa might be expec ted. This situation contrasts with the comparatively well known fleshfly ta xocoenoses comprising such purely Balkan maritime endemics as Heteronychia gigas, H maritima, H kataphygionis. The more widely distributed Greek conti nental species, however, such as Heteronychia vervesi and H macedonica, pos sibly also occur in Asia Minor. Helicophagoides pagensis believed to be a r are adriatic endemic was discovered also in the maritime habitats of Greece and France, and it seems to show a holomediterranean distribution pattern (approximately similar to the purely holomediterranean Heteronychia penicil lata). The synanthropic fleshflies tending towards cosmopolitanism in the subtropi cal and tropical zones of Africa, Asia and partly Australia (especially Lio rarcophaga dux, L aegyptica, L portshinskyi and Parasarcophaga hirtipes), a nd showing importance in hygiene and epidemiology, are either absent from o r rare in the W' Mediterranean, possibly because the maritime atlantomedite rranean habitats are more humid than their counterparts in the E' Mediterra nean. The high population densities of such culturophiles or synanthropes as Pier retia nigriventris, Bercaea cruentata, Liopygia crassipalpis, L argyrostoma , Ravinia pernix etc reflect the general environmental disintegration (due to general problems of hygiene, tourism and other impacts by modern civiliz ation), although the higher living standard and level of hygiene in the Cat alonian habitats reflect in distictly lower population densities of strictl y synanthropic fleshflies. It shows that the species of Sarcophaginae and e specially their samples from the male hilltopping aggregations are a very u seful insect model group for both synecological and biogeographical studies .