Tabanidae is a family of the order Diptera composed of insects popularly known as horse flies. Compared to the current knowledge about other insects, tabanids can be considered a well-studied group in Brazil, however, little is known about the Tabanidae fauna in the Tocantins state, since only 44 species had been recorded for the state, which is not a very significant number among the 488 species recorded for the country. Thereby, we aimed to enlarge the knowledge of tabanids present in the state by identifying the specimens collected over the last decade in an important transition area between the Cerrado and Amazon domains. We accounted 302 specimens distributed in three subfamilies (Pangoniinae, Chrysopsinae, and Tabaninae), four tribes (Scionini, Chrysopsini, Diachlorini, and Tabanini), 12 genera, 29 species, and two varieties. Of these, only eight species and the two varieties had been recorded in the Tocantins state, numbering 21 new records for the state. Thus, we updated the records of Tabanidae for the Tocantins state for 65 known species.
Pantophthalmidae (Diptera) are recorded exclusively in the Neotropical Region. Despite the large size of adults, their species are often rare and poorly represented in entomological collections. Only two genera and 20 species are known, of which 12 are recorded in the five regions of Brazil. In the North region, the family is reported from all states, except in Tocantins. The present work provides the first records of the family for Tocantins, expanding the distribution of two species, Pantophthalmus kerteszianus (Enderlein, 1914) and P. tabaninus Thunberg, 1819. Both species are recorded for the first time in the Cerrado biome. In addition, we provide photographs of the species and a distribution map.
Tabanidae Latreille are hematophagous and act as mechanical and biological vectors of several pathogens, and therefore they have been widely studied in both ecology and public health, as well as in taxonomy works. Males are nectarivorous and rarely captured, so for most species they remain unknown. Thus, we aimed to describe/redescribe the males of five species: Esenbeckia osornoi Fairchild, 1942, Acanthocera marginalis Walker, 1854, Dicladocera mutata Fairchild, 1958, Stypommisa aripuana Fairchild & Wilkerson, 1986, and Tabanus mucronatus Fairchild, 1961. Three males are described for the first time and two others are redescribed, we also provide a complete description of the species, including photographs of habitus, head and genitalia.
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