Seasonal Abundance of Horse Fly (Diptera: Tabanidae) in Western Anatolia

Abstract

Adult horse flies take blood meals from many mammals including human, so they have known as serious pests wherever they occur and also are known vectors of numerous disease agents. Seasonal abundance of Tabanidae species was monitored during from May to September of 2005, 2006 and 2007 years, in Western Anatolia, Turkey. Totally, 7293 specimens from 52 species belonging to nine genera were collected and identified. Seasonal activities of ten most abundant species, Dasyrhamphis umbrinus, Haematopota subcylindrica, Philipomyia aprica, Tabanus bifarius, Tabanus bromius, Tabanus lunatus, Tabanus portschinskii, Tabanus quatuomotatus, Tabanus rupium and Tabanus unifasciatus were analyzed. D. umbrinus, T bifarius, T quatuomotatus, T unifasciatus reached their peak of abundance in June and others species reached their peak of abundance at July. The longest flight period from first week of May to mid-September was determined for the species Haematopota subcylindrica and Tabanus bromius. Moreover, Haematopota subcylindrica was the most abundant with 23.86% and followed by Tabanus bromius with 20.65%. The population peak of species, and also vector potential, for each year can be affected from climatic conditions. Nevertheless, results suggest that the time between from the mid-June to the third week of July can be considered as the potentially higher-risk period of mechanical transmission of pathogens by tabanids for the study area.