Cretaceous Horse flies and their phylogenetic significance (Diptera: Tabanidae)

Abstract

Popularly known as horse flies or deer flies, Tabanidae, has 4.400 described species distributed worldwide. Most of the females are hematophagous, but several species are also flower visitors. Cretaceous fossils of Tabanidae are scarce and the known fossil species have plesiomorphic features unknown in modern horse flies. Here, we revised the taxonomy of the Tabanidae from the Crato Formation of Brazil describing a new genus, Araripusgen. nov., and two new species – Araripus crassitibialissp. nov. and Cratotabanus cearensissp. nov. The holotype of Cratotabanus stonemyomorphus, the type species of Cratotabanus, is redescribed, and the male is described for the first time. In addition, we investigate the phylogenetic position of Cretaceous horse fly fossils using morphological characters in the context of a wider analysis also including representatives of extant lineages.

Atypical case of pattern disruption in sex proportions of Tabanidae collections with malaise traps in ecuadorian forests

“…Page 8/ 13 We sincerely thank Mr. Carlos for allowing us to carry out the trapping phase in his estate. We also express our gratitude to the National Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Leopoldo Izquieta Perez (currently INSPI) for their invaluable logistic support and mobilization.…”

“…Horse ies are dipteran insects that exhibit marked sexual dimorphism with notable ocular separation, which is a highly distinctive morphological attribute. This characteristic, known as holoptic (eyes fused) in males and dichoptic (eyes separated) in females, allows for clear discrimination of horse y sexes (Mullens 2019;do Carmo et al 2022).…”