New record of black fungus gnat (Diptera: Sciaroidea, Sciaridae) from Iran, with a first record for the fauna of the Middle East

This paper presents new information on black fungus gnats (Sciaridae) based on field studies at seven localities in Iran. Five sciarid species from the genera Bradysia Winnertz, Corynoptera Winnertz and Lycoriella Frey were collected with Malaise traps, yellow sticky traps, sweep net and an aspirator between 2015 and 2021: Bradysia cellarum Frey, 1948; B. ocellaris (Comstock, 1882); B. tilicola (Loew, 1850); Corynoptera fatigans (Johannsen, 1912); Lycoriella sativae (Johannsen, 1912). All species are first records for the Sistan and Baluchestan province. Bradysia tilicola (Loew) is new to Iran and was recorded for the first time in the Middle East. This brings the number of known sciarid species from Iran to seven. For five species are given a short morphological diagnosis and the global distribution. A map illustrates the distribution of all identified sciarid species in Iran.