Original scientific paper
Analysis of the Feeding Sites for some Horse Flies (Diptera, Tabanidae) on a Human in Croatia
Stjepan Krčmar
Svjetlana Marić
Abstract
The landing patterns of horse flies on the human body were observed in Croatia. A total of 386 horse flies belonging to
22 species were sampled. The five most commonly collected species were used in the analysis. The stochastic linear connection
is tight among the landings of the species Tabanus bromius, Tabanus maculicornis, Tabanus tergestinus, and
Philipomyia graeca on the human body regions (matrix R). The preferred feeding area for these four species was the
lower leg, whereas for the species Haematopota pluvialis it was the head and neck. Of the total number of horse flies that
landed 44.81% were on the lower leg. Only 0.26% landed on the forearm. Chi-square analysis indicated non random
landing patterns on human by these horse flies.
Keywords
Diptera; Tabanidae; human; feeding sites; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
27668
URI
Publication date:
13.12.2006.
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