Bennet & Van Olivier (1825[refs]00700[/refs]) were the first to compile a complete checklist of Dutch insects. They included 79 species of Diptera. Within a few years Anonymous [=Van Swinderen ?] (1825[refs]00340[/refs]), Van der Hoeven (1826[refs]04100[/refs]) and Anslijn (1828a[refs]00350[/refs], 1828b[refs]00360[/refs], 1831[refs]00370[/refs]) published additions to this list. Together, they added 227 species to the first list, raising the total number of species to 306. The records in these publications are difficult to compare because they were based on different primary literature: Bennet & Van Olivier (1825[refs]00700[/refs]) mostly used names by Linnaeus and Fabricius, whereas the other authors relied heavily on publications by Meigen. Altogether, the total number of actual species then on record for the Netherlands was probably less than 306.
1850-1890
F.M. van der Wulp
F.M. van der Wulp and S.C. nellen van Vollenhoven (1852[refs]12000[/refs], 1853[refs]12010[/refs], 1856[refs]12020[/refs]) compiled the first checklist strictly devoted to Dutch
Diptera. It was published in three parts in Bouwstoffen voor eene fauna van Nederland, volumes 1 and 2. Curiously enough, neither the previous list by Bennet & Van Olivier, nor the additions to that list were mentioned. The list mentioned 694 species, gave records for each of them, and listed references to original descriptions and further publications. Within 10 years of publication of this list, Van der Wulp revised much of the available material, collected new material and received additional material from others. This resulted in a number of newly described species, especially in the suborder Nematocera (Van der Wulp, 1859a[refs]11850[/refs], 1859c[refs]11870[/refs], 1859d[refs]11880[/refs], 1861[refs]11890[/refs], 1864b[refs]11920[/refs]), and in many new records. The newly collected data were compiled in an updated list (Van der Wulp, 1859b[refs]11860[/refs], 1862[refs]11900[/refs], 1864a[refs]11910[/refs], 1866[refs]11930[/refs]). Between 1856 and 1866, Van der Wulp almost doubled the number of Dutch Diptera species, raising the number to 1379. In a postscript to the update (Van der Wulp, 1866: 196 [296][refs]11930[/refs]) he mentioned a number of at least 100 species that should be added.
The next major undertaking of Van der Wulp was the publication of Diptera Neerlandica. It was intended as a two-volume work similar to Schiner's Fauna Austriaca (1860-1864[refs]09460[/refs]). In the end, only the first volume was published (Van der Wulp, 1877[refs]11980[/refs]). It covered all species of Diptera in the Nematocera and some lower Brachycera (Xylophagidae-Coenomyiinae and Stratiomyidae), becoming a major reference work for many families for several decades. At the time of publication of the book, Van der Wulp had an unpublished list with about 1900 species of Diptera known from the Netherlands.
1890-1939
J.C.H. de Meijere
Late in the nineteenth century J.C.H. de Meijere entered the stage of Dutch dipterology. He and Van der Wulp decided to compile a new checklist instead of only publishing additions. The main reason being the fact that there were few species for which nothing new could be reported so they might just as well treat them all. Their new list (Van der Wulp & De Meijere, 1898[refs]11990[/refs]) comprised 2133 species, each with its distribution as then known. The species were ordered in 31 families, but the family Muscidae was subdivided in 25 subfamilies, many of which are at present considered to be separate families.
After the death of Van der Wulp, De Meijere alone published the first supplement to their list (De Meijere, 1907[refs]06210[/refs]), for which lots of older material was revised again and newly collected material was examined. Subsequent supplements were published by De Meijere (1916[refs]06240[/refs], 1920a[refs]06260[/refs], 1928a[refs]06300[/refs], 1935[refs]06330[/refs], 1939a[refs]06360[/refs]). In the first and fourth supplements (De Meijere, 1907[refs]06210[/refs], 1928a[refs]06300[/refs]) De Meijere deleted over 160 species after revising older material, manuscripts and literature. Nevertheless, the number of recorded species steadily increased during the period until 1939 (Table 1). This was not solely due to De Meijere's work but also to the work of several other specialists (see Table 1).
>1939
De Meijere (1939b[refs]06360[/refs]) presented the Naamlijst van Nederlandsche Diptera, afgesloten 1 April 1939 (Checklist of Dutch Diptera, with cut-off date April 1st 1939) as the general result of his studies on Dutch Diptera that he started in 1887. Of course, virtually all these results were also published in the 1898 list and its supplements, but the new checklist presented all data together. According to De Meijere's counts, the total number of species listed is 3354 (three species were synonymised after the manuscript for the sixth supplement was submitted).
The order of the families in general follows the systematics as outlined in Die Fliegen der paläarktischen Region (edited by E. Lindner, at the time De Meijere published his list 125 issues were published; see individual references for families). The species are divided over 77 families and many synonyms or misidentifications are included between brackets. Unfortunately, it is often not clear whether the names between brackets refer to synonyms or to misidentifications and this can lead to confusion.
De Meijere's list of 1939 has been the main reference point for many years, and for many families it has been the only point of reference since its publication.
1939-1950
After the publication of the 1939 list, two more supplements were published (De Meijere, 1946a[refs]06410[/refs], 1950a[refs]06430[/refs]). The seventh supplement raised the number of species to 3462 (Table 1; De Meijere gave 3465 but that was based on the number listed in the sixth supplement). After the death of De Meijere in 1947, Kruseman made the manuscript of the eighth supplement ready for publication. According to De Meijere's text, the number of species was raised to 3491 (Table 1), but in a note Kruseman stated that it should be 3518. Most of this difference is accounted for by the fact that De Meijere listed 24 species of Chironomidae and three species in other families as new to the list because they were omitted from the 1939 list (although for two of the latter that is not true). However, these species were included in the species count of the 1939 list and should not be included in the number to be added to the total. If one adds the remaining number of new species (29) to the corrected number of 3462 one gets the correct figure of 3491, as given by De Meijere.
1950-2002
The increase in knowledge of individual families since 1950 shows much variation. Some families hardly received any attention at all after De Meijere's days, e.g., the Trichoceridae, and no new data were published for these, except for some records of species already known in 1939. Fortunately, various specialists recently identified material of families that were grossly neglected in the last 50 years (see, e.g., Van Zuijlen et al., 1996[refs]12360[/refs]).
In contrast, other families received an excess of attention in this period, e.g., species have been added to the Syrphidae list at least every few years since the publication of the 1939 list, and the fauna of this family is very well known.
A number of dipterists played a prominent role in the accumulation of new data after 1950. The most important of these are B. van Aartsen (many families in the orthorrhaphous and cyclorrhaphous Brachycera), P.L.Th. Beuk (several families), M. Chvála (Empidoidea), P.H. van Doesburg Sr (mainly Syrphidae), V.S. van der Goot (orthorrhaphous Brachycera, Syrphidae and several acalyptrate families, e.g. Sepsidae and Psilidae), H. de Jong (several families), W.J. Kabos (many groups of Acalyptrate and Calyptrate flies), A. Klink and H.K.M. Moller Pillot (Chironomidae), J.A.W. Lucas (mainly Syrphidae and other families of orthorrhaphous Brachycera), H.J.G. Meuffels (Dolichopodidae en several other families), W.C. Nijveldt (Cecidomyiidae), P. Oosterbroek (Tipuloidea and some other families), J.M. Revier (Sciomyzidae), Br. Theowald (Tipuloidea and several other families), M.P. van Veen (Asilidae, Bombyliidae, Conopidae), Th. Zeegers (Tachinidae) and J.W.A. van Zuijlen (several families). Of course, this list is far from complete, as many others also added one or more species or reviewed species or groups. They are all mentioned in the family chapters or in the references.
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