Preliminary list of horse flies (Diptera, Tabanidae) of Serbia.

Thirty six species of horse flies (Tabanidae) were previously known from Serbia (Europe). The present faunistic study of horse flies (Tabanidae) has resulted in the recording of the 4 new species Atylotus fulvus (Meigen, 1804); Tabanus miki Brauer in Brauer and Bergenstamm, 1880; Tabanus unifasciatus Loew, 1858; and Heptatoma pellucens (Fabricius, 1776), in the fauna of Serbia. The genus Heptatoma Meigen, 1803 is cited for the first time in the fauna of Serbia. 40 species are currently known from Serbia, belonging to nine genera. The fauna can be considered relatively poorly studied. Most of the species belong to the Boreal-Eurasian type of fauna 23, followed by the South European group with 8 species, the Mediterranean group with 6 species, European group with 2 species and Central European group with 1 species.

Introduction

The Tabanidae family contains over 4,000 described species found throughout the world (Chainey 1993). The females are known as mechanical vectors of viruses, bacteria, protozoans and helminths that cause various diseases in wild and domestic animals (Foil 1989, Desquesnes and Dia 2004). Therefore, during the last thirty years numerous studies into the effectiveness of synthetic and natural attractants in the sampling of horse flies have been carried out around the world (French and Kline 1989, Phelps and Holloway 1992, Hribar et al. 1992, Hayes et al. 1993, Leprince et al. 1994, Krčmar et al. 2005, 2006, Krčmar 2007, Mihok et al. 2007, Cilek and Olson 2008, Mihok and Mulye 2010). Moreover, in this period a few new traps for collecting horse flies have been made (Hribar et al. 1991, Cilek and Medrano 2000, Mihok 2002, Dia et al. 2004, Mihok et al. 2006). However, there are some regions in the world that have not yet been sufficiently studied, one of these regions is the Balkan Peninsula. The horsefly fauna is poorly known in Central Balkan countries, 40 species were recorded in Macedonia, 42 species in Montenegro and 36 species in Serbia (Strobl 1898, 1900, 1902, Doflein 1921, Leclercq 1959, 1960a, 1960b, 1965, 1966, 1968, Coe 1958, 1960, Moucha 1959, 1965, Moucha and Chvála 1964, Majer 1985, Krčmar et al. 2002, Zeegers 2005, www.faunaeur.org). At the beginning of the twentieth century there were a few sporadic visits by foreign entomologists to Central Balkan countries, during which time several species of horse flies were collected. Most horse flies in the Central Balkan countries were collected after the Second World War, during the sixties and during the study tour of Czech and Belgian entomologists in the countries of Southeastern Europe. During my visits to Serbia in 2004 and 2006, I collected a few interesting species of horse flies, which led me to summarize all available data on the horsefly fauna of Serbia. Because of this, this work is based on literature findings and data obtained from a faunal survey conducted in the summer of 2004 and during the spring and summer months of 2006.

Material and methods

Samplings of horse flies in Serbia were carried out during 2004 and 2006 mostly in the area of the Fruška Gora national park. In this period, horse flies were collected at 8 localities. The Fruška Gora national park is an isolated, narrow, mainland mountain in the Pannonian plain. Most of the mountain lies in Vojvodina, Serbia except for a small section to the west which lies in Croatia. To the north, the mountain is bordered by the Danube. Lengthwise, it is approximately 80 km east to west and 15 km north to south (45°10'0"N, 19°40'0"E). Its highest peak is Crveni Čot at 539 m (http://en.wikipedia.org). Its location, specific geological history and different microclimatic conditions make it very interesting and important to science. Thanks to the unique and very rich deposits of fossil fauna and flora, Fruška Gora is called the mirror of the geological past. The main characteristic of this region is the existence of numerous protected, rare and endangered species (http://www.npfruskagora.co.rs). The horse flies were collected on 25 June 2004, 24 July 2004, 20 May 2006, 24 July 2006, and 10 August 2006 from horses by hand and by means of a sampling net when horse flies flew into a car. All collected horse flies were preserved in ethanol. Identification and nomenclature followed that of Chvála et al. (1972), Chvála (1988) and Mally (1987). Also, the presence of some species was determined upon a review of literature data. The full scientific names for all species including the author and year is only provided in the updated list of Serbian Tabanidae and is omitted from the text below.PageBreak

Results of the study at Fruška Gora

All together 542 specimens were collected (Table 1) belonging to 24 species of horse flies grouped into the subfamilies Chrysopsinae and Tabaninae and the genera: , , , , and . Four species: , , , and made up 81% of the fauna of horse flies in the researched area, while 19% were representatives of other species (Table 1). The most numerous genus is with 11 species, followed by with 4 species, and with 3 species, with 2 species and with 1 species (Table 1). From the collected sample, 4 species of horse flies new to the fauna of Serbia were determined, these are , , , and . Four females of the species were collected in Letenka on 24 July 2006. One female of the species was collected in Brankovac on 24 July 2006. The third new species was collected in Brankovac on 24 July 2006 (1♀), and 10 August 2006 (3♀), while two females were collected at the locality in Zmajevac on PageBreak10 August 2006. Finally, the fourth species is that was collected at Brankovac on 10 August 2006. Thanks to the kindness of Dr. Th. Zeegers and the data he provided for this manuscript four additional horse fly species are added to the Serbian fauna: , , and . Two females of were collected at the locality in Kopaonik, Jankova Bara on 11 June 2009 (Th. Zeegers unpublished data through personal communication). Also, one female specimen of was collected at the locality in Kopaonik, Lisina on 12 June 2009 (Th. Zeegers unpublished data through personal communication). Most of the species belong to the Boreal-Eurasian type of fauna (n= 23), (Olsufjev 1977). These species are: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . The following 6 are Mediterranean species: , , , , , and (Olsufjev 1977, Chvála et al. 1972). Furthermore, the following 8 are Southern European species: , , , , , , , (Olsufjev 1977, Chvála et al. 1972). Only, , and belong to the group of European species (Chvála et al. 1972), while belong to Central European group of species (Zeegers 2005).

Table 1.

Species and numbers of horse flies collected in Serbia during 2004 and 2006.

Species	No. of Specimens	%
Tabanus glaucopis	231	42.61
Tabanus exclusus	98	18.08
Haematopota pluvialis	63	11.62
Tabanus tergestinus	45	8.30
Haematopota bigoti	26	4.79
Tabanus bromius	19	3.50
Tabanus sudeticus	14	2.58
Hybomitra ciureai	12	2.21
Tabanus unifasciatus	6	1.10
Tabanus autumnalis	4	0.73
Atylotus rusticus	4	0.73
Atylotus fulvus	4	0.73
Tabanus maculicornis	2	0.36
Atylotus loewianus	2	0.36
Chrysops caecutiens	2	0.36
Haematopota italica	2	0.36
Chrysops viduatus	1	0.18
Hybomitra bimaculata	1	0.18
Hybomitra solstitialis	1	0.18
Tabanus bovinus	1	0.18
Tabanus cordiger	1	0.18
Tabanus miki	1	0.18
Heptatoma pellucens	1	0.18
Haematopota pandazisi	1	0.18
Total: 24	542

The following list of species includes all available literature records and new records based on the study at Fruška Gora and previously unpublished records provided by Dr. Theo Zeegers.

List of Tabanidae species recorded in Serbia.

Subfamily

Genus Chrysops Meigen, 1803

1. (Linnaeus, 1758)

2. Meigen, 1804

3. Meigen, 1820

4. Meigen, 1820

5. (Fabricius, 1794)

Subfamily

Genus AtylotusOsten – Sacken, 1876

6. (Meigen, 1804)

7. (Villeneuve, 1920)PageBreak

8. ( Linné, 1767)

Genus Therioplectes Zeller, 1842

9. (Herbst, 1787)

10. Szilády, 1927

Genus Hybomitra Enderlein, 1922

11. (Meigen, 1820)

12. (Macquart, 1826)

13. (Séguy, 1937)

14. (Verrall, 1909)

15. (Meigen, 1804)

16. (Bauer in Brauer and Bergenstamm, 1880)

17. (Loew, 1858)

Genus Tabanus Linnaeus, 1758

18. Linnaeus, 1761

19. Linnaeus, 1758

20. Linnaeus, 1758

21. Meigen, 1820

22. Pandellé, 1883

23. Meigen, 1820

24. Fabricius, 1794

25. Zetterstedt, 1842

26. Brauer in Brauer and Bergenstamm, 1880

27. Mally, 1987

28. Meigen, 1820

29. Zeller, 1842

30. Egger, 1859

31. Loew, 1858

Genus Heptatoma Meigen, 1803

32. (Fabricius, 1776)

Genus Haematopota Meigen, 1803

33. Gobert, 1880

34. Meigen, 1804

35. (Kröber, 1922)

36. (Kröber, 1936)

37. (Linnaeus, 1758)

38. Pandellé, 1883

Genus Philipomyia Olsufjev, 1964

39. ( Fabricius, 1794)

Genus Dasyrhamphis Enderlein, 1922

40. (Meigen, 1820)

Discussion

A previous list of Tabanidae of Serbia was based on literature data from previous studies (Strobl 1900, 1902, Coe 1958, 1960, Moucha 1959, 1965, Moucha and Chvála 1964, Leclercq 1966, 1968, Krčmar et al. 2002, Zeegers 2005, www.faunaeur.org). According to these studies 36 species were mentioned from Serbia. Four species were recorded as new for the fauna of Serbia during this study; two of them belong to genus , followed by the genera and with one species. All new species for the fauna of Serbia were collected during field work. New species were mainly collected on the localities of the Fruška Gora national park. The analysis of the recorded species during the 2004 and 2006 study resulted in a very high percent of Mediterranean species in localities of Fruška Gora. was represented with 18% in the collected sample indicating different microclimatic conditions. Interesting data for comparison with this high percent of records of in Fruška Gora is that this species in the Mediterranean part of Croatia was the most common with 21% (Krčmar 1999). Furthermore, very few specimens of were collected on the southern slopes of the mountain massifs of Dilj, Krndija and Papuk in the continental part of Eastern Croatia (Krčmar and Mikuska 2001). The distribution of this species belong to the area of Southern Europe and South Eastern Europe (Chvála et al. 1972). All these comparisons confirmed that Fruška Gora is very interesting and important for faunistical studies. Only Strobl (1900) and Moucha (1959) mentioned the presence of species in Serbia but gave no other data except the name of country where the horse flies were collected, which they marked as “Serbia”. Also, there are no exact data about the dates of collection, for the species and (Strobl 1902, Moucha 1959). However, two years ago on 8 June 2009 one female of the species was collected on Stara Planina 35 km ENE of Pirot (Th. Zeegers unpublished data through personal communication). The Tabanidae fauna of Serbia is very poor compared with neighboring countries (e.g., Croatia 78 species, Bosnia and Herzegovina 62 species). The most recent published article about Tabanidae fauna of Serbia was from the 1960s, where all the records were summarized as horse flies from Yugoslavia. The 40 determined species of horse flies indicate the necessity to continue with faunistical research, because this is certainly not the final number of horse flies in Serbia, the occurrence of many additional species is expected.