Seasonal abundance of Tabanidae (Diptera) on a farm in southern France

Authors

  • Ferjani Azza CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, EPHE, IRD, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, route de Mende, 34199 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
  • Etienne Lucas CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, EPHE, IRD, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, route de Mende, 34199 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
  • Duvallet Gérard CEFE UMR 5175, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, EPHE, IRD, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, route de Mende, 34199 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.

Keywords:

France, H-trap, Phenology, Seasonal activity, Tabanidae

Abstract

The Tabanidae family consists globally of 4,400 known species of biting flies, with 83 species in France. Horseflies were captured with 7 H-Traps on a farm near Montélimar, southern France, during 21 wk from May to September 2017. In total, 54,618 specimens were captured belonging to the Chrysopsinae, Pangoniinae and Tabaninae subfamilies. Six genera were identified: Atylotus, Chrysops, Dasyrhamphis, Haematopota, Pangonius and Tabanus. These specimens were distributed into 19 species. Tabanus was the most important genus with 14 species, but Haematopota italica was
the most abundant with 61% of all captures followed by Tabanus glaucopis (11%), T. nemoralis (8%), T.quatuornotatus (4%), T. exclusus (4%) and T. bromius (3%). All the other taxa each representedless than 2% of captures. The seasonal activity showed two peaks of abundance, with one at theend of May involving precocious species such as T. nemoralis, T. quatuornotatus, T. cordiger andT.autumnalis and the second at the end of August involving T. glaucopis, T. eggeri, T. paradoxus,Atylotus loewianus and a large peak of Haematopota italica with 11,796 specimens in 1 wk. On threeoccasions in July and August, 15 species were observed in the same week. For the first time insouthern France, these results provide data on the phenology and abundance of horseflies. For thefuture and a better strategy for control of these bloodsucking insects, it would be useful to evaluateother types of traps for the capture of adults and to study larval development sites.

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Published

2020-04-24

How to Cite

Azza, Ferjani, Etienne Lucas, and Duvallet Gérard. 2020. “Seasonal Abundance of Tabanidae (Diptera) on a Farm in Southern France”. Agriculture and Natural Resources 54 (2). Bangkok, Thailand:158–164. https://li01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/anres/article/view/242534.

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Section

Research Article