Abstract
Horse flies (Diptera: Tabanidae) cause direct and indirect losses in livestock production and are important vectors of pathogens. The aim of this study was to determine the diversity and seasonality of horse fly species at an experimental farm in Tacuarembó and the diversity of species in different departments of Uruguay. For 20 months, systematic collections were performed in two different environments at the experimental farm using Nzi and Malaise traps. In addition, nonsystematic collections were performed at farms located in the departments of Paysandú, Tacuarembó and Colonia. A total of 3,666 horse flies were collected, and 16 species were identified. These species included three species that had not been previously recorded in Uruguay, namely, Dasybasis ornatissima (Brèthes), Dasybasis missionum (Macquart), and Tabanus aff. platensis Brèthes, and a species that had not been previously taxonomically described (Tabanus sp.1). Among the systematically captured samples, the most abundant species were Tabanus campestris Brèthes, T. aff. platensis and D. missionum, representing 77.6% of the collected specimens. The horse fly season in Tacuarembó started in September and ended in May. No horse flies were caught during winter. Variations in the prevalences of species in the different departments were observed, which indicates the need for new sampling efforts.
Highlights
Horse flies (Diptera: Tabanidae) cause direct and indirect losses in livestock production and are important vectors of pathogens
Among the 3,211 specimens captured by this method, a total of 15 species were identified, and three of these species (Tabanus campestris Brèthes; T. aff. platensis; Dasybasis missionum (Macquart)) represented 77.6% of the total samples captured (Table 1)
Of the 14 species that were taxonomically identified, D. ornatissima and D. missionum had not been previously observed in Uruguay, even though both have been recorded in Argentina and D. missionum has been previously observed in Brazil[10,16]
Summary
Horse flies (Diptera: Tabanidae) cause direct and indirect losses in livestock production and are important vectors of pathogens. In addition to the losses caused by the direct effects of horse flies, these pests cause indirect losses due to their role as a mechanical vector of numerous pathogens, including those causing bovine leukosis, vesicular stomatitis, equine infectious anemia, swine fever, anthrax, and tularemia, as well as various species of trypanosomes and Anaplasma marginale[4,5]. These indirect losses might be even more important than the direct losses. This interruption causes female flies to seek other animals to complete their meal, and these flies are able to fly several kilometers and reach speeds of 5 m/s, which highlights their potential as a mechanical vector[11]
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