Contributions to a history of Mexican Dipterology. Part I. Entomologists and their works before the Biologia Centrali-Americana

The life and works of entomologists who described species of Diptera from Mexico before the publication of the Biologia Centrali-Americana are presented, including some commentaries about the collectors. Here are listed all the Mexican Diptera species-names proposed by Thomas Say (15 species), Rudolph Wilhelm Wiedemann (35 species), Pierre Justin Marie Macquart (71 species), John Obadiah Westwood (5 species), Bracy Clark (1 species), Francis Walker (91 species), Luigi Bellardi (176 species), Camilo Rondani (5 species), F. Jaennicke (24 species), Edward Adolph Gerstaecker (8 species), Jaques Marie Frangille Bigot (205 species), Alfred Duges (1 species), Friedrich Moritz Brauer (3 species), F. M. Brauer and J. F. Bergenstamm (13 species), Ermanno Giglio-Tos (177 species), and Ewald Rubsaamen (2 species). Included are a total of 832 specific names of the following 51 current families (in phylogenetic order): Tipulidae, Culicidae, Simuliidae, Anisopodidae, Bibionidae, Ditomyiidae, Mycetophilidae, Sciaridae, Xylomyidae, Stratiomyidae, Tabanidae, Rhagionidae, Pantophtalmidae, Therevidae, Mydidae, Asilidae, Nemestrinidae, Acroceridae, Bombyliidae, Empididae, Dolichopodidae, Syrphidae, Conopidae, Micropezidae, Neriidae, Psilidae, Tanypezidae, Richardiidae, Otitidae, Platystomatidae, Tephritidae, Dryomyzidae, Sepsidae, Sciomyzidae, Lauxaniidae, Lonchaeidae, Ephydridae, Drosophilidae, Chloropidae, Heleomyzidae, Rhinotoridae, Anthomyiidae, Scatophagidae, Muscidae, Hippoboscidae, Streblidae, Nycteribiidae, Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae, Tachinidae, and Cuterebridae. The original reference, type-locality, depository museum or collection, present taxonomic status of each name and additional references are presented.