Threatened or thriving? – The status of Serbian hoverflies on the IUCN European Red List of Hoverflies

Given the widespread decline of pollinators worldwide, assessing them using the IUCN criteria is crucial to understand their conservation status better and inform effective protection efforts. Our study centers on hoverflies, the second most significant group of insect pollinators, following bees. The research was focused on Serbia, a country with a well‐established tradition of hoverfly research, offering ample data to support our objectives: presenting the Red List categories assigned to Serbian hoverfly species, determining the extent to which networks of Protected Areas (PAs) and Prime Hoverfly Areas (PHAs) encompass the distribution of threatened species and assessing the role of area size in their conservation. The results reveal distinct patterns between strictly protected and protected species: 43% of the strictly protected species were classified as Endangered (EN) on the European Red List, whereas 80% of the protected species were categorized as Least Concern. Overlapping the occurrence of threatened species with PHAs and PAs indicated several areas significant for preserving threatened species. The number of occurrences was independent of area size (except for EN species and PHAs; r = .59, p < .004). Our results show that although hoverflies have a relatively favorable status in Serbia, to keep it that way certain actions should be undertaken.