Core team members

Meet Taxo-Fly core team members!
Dr Gunilla Ståhls-Mäkelä, Leader and Coordinator of the Taxo-Fly project

Dr. Gunilla Ståhls-Mäkelä's research subject is molecular systematics and taxonomy of hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae) and and flat-footed flies (Platypezidae) employing both morphological and molecular data and different analytical methods. I have published on hoverfly systematics, classification, phylogeography as well as species level studies integrating morphological and molecular data for taxonomic revisions. I have continuous international collaboration with research groups in e.g. Serbia and Spain. Recent funding includes EU Horizon 2020 RISE program (Research and Innovation Staff Exchange Programme) for the project FlyHigh (Insect-plant relationships: insights into biodiversity and new applications) and the ongoing EU Tender (SPRING) focusing on developing monitoring schemes for different groups of pollinator insects, including hoverflies.

MSc Sander Bot

MSc Sander Bot is an independent researcher from the Netherlands.

He is an active collector which brings him all over Europe and the rest of the world in search for hoverflies (Syrphidae). He is mainly interested in taxonomy and identification and within hoverflies the focus lies on the genus Cheilosia. He is author of the field guide to the hoverflies of the Netherlands and Belgium, and works on a field guide to the hoverflies of Britain and Northwestern Europe. Currently he works on several other projects including one on the genus Cheilosia in the Caucasus.In Taxo-Fly is is the Leader of the Photo Team.

Dr Ana Grković

Research associate at the Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad.

Her research has focused on the taxonomy of hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae), with an emphasis on the taxonomy and systematics of the genus Eumerus. She also has experience in mosquito surveillance in the area of Vojvodina in which she participated as team leader on provincial project from 2007–2009. She is a member of the IUCN specialist group for hoverflies, and was involved as assessor for IUCN Red List Assessments for three genera. In the Taxo-Fly projects she is Core group member, an in the Data and Image collecting groups.

Dr Laura Likov

Research Associate, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia.

Her field of interest is taxonomy and faunistic analyses of hoverflies, as well as their ecology and conservation. She has contributed to multiple scientific papers on the taxonomy and biodiversity of the hoverfly genus Merodon. Species Assessor in the IUCN European Red list of Hoverflies. In the Taxo-Fly projects she is a Core group member, an in the Data and Image collecting groups.

Dr Libor Mazánek

Department of disinfection, disinsection and deratisation, Antiepidemic division of Regional public health authority in Olomouc, and external lecturer at Faculty of Science, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic.

He gained insight into taxonomy of the genus Eupeodes and related genera of the tribe Syrphini under leadership of Ing. Pavel Láska during his studies at university. Besides his current profession (pest control expert and epidemiologist of parasitic and zoonotic diseases) his interest on Syrphidae remained as private. He has been responsible for processing of Syrphidae family for almost all project concerning dipteran fauna in the Czech and Slovak Republics during last three decades. As an expert on taxonomy of the genus Eupeodes and related genera, he has participated as co-author or consultant on most other research projects concerning Syrphidae across whole Europe. He is member of the IUCN Hoverfly Specialist Group (HSG) and Species assessor responsible on selected genera of the tribe Syrphini in the IUCN European Red List of Hoverflies. In the Taxo-Fly project he is a Core team member, and in the data collecting group.

Dr Ximo Mengual

 Zoologisches Museum A. Koenig, Bonn, Germany

He has numerous publications on the systematics and taxonomy of true flies (Diptera) with specific emphasis on the world-wide family Syrphidae, commonly known as Flower flies or Hoverflies. The phylogenetic relationships of this group of flies and their placement within Muscomorpha are two other focal research topics. Presently he is working with molecular techniques using Next-Generation Sequencing and has participated in developing baits for Anchored Hybrid Enrichment to produce phylogenomic sequence data for hoverfly phylogenetics and classification.

Dr Marija Miličić

Research Associate at the BioSense Institute, University of Novi Sad, Serbia.

Her research work has focused on the analysis of distributional patterns of hoverflies, factors affecting them, as well as on research of their functional diversity. She is a member of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) specialist group for hoverflies. She has participated in several national and international project concerning hoverfly distribution patterns, biodiversity and ecology. Within the Taxo-Fly project, she is in charge for the compilation of distributional data and production of distribution maps.

Dr Marina Janković Milosavljević

Research Associate at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad.

She defended her PhD thesis titled “Conservation of hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae) and evaluation of PHA (Prime Hoverfly Areas)” in September 2021. Her scientific field of interest is conservation biology. Main focus of her research is related to the conservation status of hoverfly species (especially protected and strictly protected species in Serbia) and evaluation of the areas designated as important for survival of hoverflies in Serbia (Prime Hoverfly Areas – PHA). She is a member of the Advisory Committee of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Hoverfly Specialist Group. Within Taxo-Fly project, she will assist in production of distribution maps.

Dr Gerard Pennards

Gerard Pennards is born in 1964 in the Netherlands and he lives in the wonderful city of Amersfoort. From a very early childhood on he was interested in everything that nature had to offer, including birds, reptiles, amphibians and arthropods which he used to take everything home to ‘study’. That was not always appreciated by the other family members. He chose to study biology at the University in Wageningen, and graduated in 1994 as a biologist specialized in the ‘organism’. After that he did some other work until he started working as an expert taxonomist for a company in Amsterdam, and he is currently the Team Leader of a group of general entomologists and some specialists in spiders, beetles, mites and springtails. Gerard’s expertise lies mainly with the two-winged insects (Diptera, midges and flies), but after many years of experience he is also very experienced in most of the other insect orders.

Professor Snežana Radenković

Department of Ecology and Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia

Her field of scientific research includes faunistics, zoogeography, taxonomy, systematics and conservation of hoverflies. She has studied hoverflies for 20 years, and participated in 12 national and seven international projects on hoverfly conservation, biodiversity, faunistics and monitoring.  Presently she is a PI in the national ‘Serbian Pollinator Advice Strategy - for the next normal’ (SPAS), funded by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia (2022-2024), an associate of the Academic Committee for the Study of Serbian Fauna at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU), a member of the IUCN Hoverfly Specialist Group (HSG) and Species assessor in the IUCN European Red List of Hoverflies. In the Taxo-Fly project he is a Core group member, and in the Data collecting group.

Dr Axel Ssymank

German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), Bonn, Germany

Vegetation scientist and entomologist (specialised on Syrphidae, Conopidae & Stratiomyidae). Has been working on hoverflies for more than 35 years, specifically on taxonomy (revisions, species descriptions), faunistics, pollinator ecology and habitat preferences mainly in Europe and Africa. Involved in Red List for Germany (hoverflies & habitats), EU Red list on Habitats, EU Habitats Directive and Natura 2000 and Species Assessor in the EU Red list of hoverflies. PhD focused on functional relations between flower visitors and vegetation. In the Taxo-Fly project he is a member of the Core group, heading the Platform development group, and a Data provider.

MSc Jeroen van Steenis

Jeroen van Steenis is an independant researcher from the Netherlands. He is the chair of the Syrphidae Foundation and chief-editor of the Journaal van Syrphidae. Started at the age of 14 with collecting hoverflies and developed into an alround hoverfly specialist. Focussing on the Palaearctic and Oriental fauna and publishing on taxonomy and biology. He participated in the IUCN hoverfly specialist group writing several European Red List factsheets. For Taxo-Fly he produces factsheets and helps in advancing the taxonomic knowledge of European hoverflies by studying collection material and doing additional fieldwork.

Dr Tamara Tot

Research assistant, Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia.

Her scientific fields of interest are taxonomy and systematics of hoverflies (Syrphidae), especially morphological taxonomy. She has participated in several hoverfly collecting trips. She has contributed to multiple scientific papers on hiverfly taxonomy and systematics. Species Assessor in the IUCN European Red list of Hoverflies. In the Taxo-Fly projects she is Core group member, an in the Data and Image collecting groups.

Professor Ante Vujić

Department of Ecology and Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia

His main research interests are hoverfly biodiversity, conservation and taxonomy, with particular focus on the hoverfly fauna of the Mediterranean area. He has participated as PI in multiple national and international research projects concerning the biodiversity and conservation of hoverflies. He is co-charing the work with the IUCN European Red List of Hoverflies. In the Taxo-Fly project he is a Core group member, and in the Data collecting group.