Seasonal Distribution of Northern New York State Anthropophilic Tabanidae (Diptera) and Observations on the Dispersal of Several Species

Abstract

In a 154 km2 area of Franklin Co., N.Y., 47 sites were monitored biweekly or weekly for two consecutive adult Tabanidae seasons. Investigators used standard aerial insect nets and captured 10,969 tabanids during 1,380 10-min sweeps. Four genera and 37 species were collected, with Chrysops ater (43%) and C. mitis (15%) dominating. The collection method was more selective of Chrysops (96% of total Tabanidae) than Hybomitra , Stonemyia , or Tabanus . In addition, over 600 C. dawsoni , a species only recently detected in New York, were captured at this location. New extensions of nuisance activity were documented for seven species. In addition to seasonal distribution data on 37 northern New York Tabanidae species and relationships of major species collected to habitat, we also report observations on the dispersal of C. ater and C. mitis recaptured at sites ≤7 km from the release site and dispersed to other sites at a rate of ≥1.2 km/h. Sixteen of 520 (3.1%)marked and released Chrysops were recaptured.