The hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae) on a small farm at Linnaeus´ birthplace in the parish of Stenbrohult, Sweden

We made a detailed study of the hoverflies on a small farm in the parish of Stenbrohult, southern Sweden in 2004-2007. The study area is totally about 17 ha, consisting of 9 ha of semi-natural grasslands with both dry and wet parts (recently mainly grazed by cattle and a few horses in late summer-autumn), a few hectares of old deciduous forest dominated by Fagus, Quercus, Betula, Populus tremula, Acer platanoides and Corylus adjacent to coniferous forest, and 10 small fens that often dry out in summer. Peat-bogs, both open and with old pines, occur adjacent to the study area. In total, during the four years, 163 species of hoverflies were collected (number of individuals in Table 1), with 126 species in 2006 and 134 in 2007. Many rare species were found, including those dependent on old living trees, dead deciduous trees, meadows, wetlands with unpolluted water and various shrubs and herbs. Six species suggested by Speight (1989) as indicators of especially valuable forests for nature conservation in Europe were found: Brachyopa bicolor, Brachyopa panzeri, Chalcosyrphus piger, Chalcosyrphus valgus, Hammerschmidtia ferruginea and Xylota meigeniana. Notable is also other wood-living species, e.g. Blera fallax, Brachypalpoides lentus, Brachypalpus laphriformis, Criorhina ranunculi, Spilomyia diophthalma, Temnostoma bombylans, 7 species of Brachyopa and 7 species of Xylota. Details about phenology, tree and flower visitis are given for many less common species. Reasons for the exceptionally high local species richness is discussed.