Overview of the horseflies (Diptera: Tabanidae) of South Africa : assessment of major collections for spatiotemporal analysis

Abstract

Tabanidae, commonly known as horseflies, is a large, cosmopolitan family with approximately 4400 described species, of which about 400 occur in southern Africa. Both sexes feed on nectar or pollen and some species are important pollinators. Females usually require a bloodmeal to produce eggs, implicating them as vectors of disease‐causing agents. Despite their importance, they have been largely neglected by science, especially in the Afrotropics. In this study, we aimed to elucidate some fundamental spatiotemporal aspects of horsefly biology in South Africa by centralising digitised data from the major natural history museums in the region. Approximately 6 000 records have been digitised and collated into a Specify database from an approximate 17 000 specimens housed in 10 museums in the region. The collections from the 10 institutions, including six collections in neighbouring countries are briefly discussed. Spatiotemporal analysis according to biomes (Albany thicket, desert, forests, fynbos, grassland, Indian Ocean belt, Kalahari savannah sub‐biome, Central Bushveld sub‐biome, Lowveld savannah sub‐biome, Nama Karoo and Succulent karoo) revealed baseline information regarding their biology within the biomes. The majority of the records are from north eastern KwaZulu‐Natal, followed by Kruger National Park and areas surrounding Cape Town, indicative of uneven sampling. The database is represented by a total of 195 species of which 83 species were recorded in only one biome, with grassland home to 28% of the biome endemic species. A species list to the region, supplemented by records from previous authors, totals to 203 species occurring in the region. Future studies should aim to digitise the remaining specimens in order to create species pages with brief descriptions, high‐resolution photographs, distribution maps and spatiotemporal patterns available online.