Entomologia Croatica, Vol. 25 No. 1, 2026.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.17971/ec.25.1.2
Horseflies (Tabanidae) in the Diptera Collection of the Natural History Department, Varaždin City Museum
Ivana Skuzin
; Varaždin City Museum, Department of Natural Sciences, Varaždin, Croatia
Stjepan Krčmar
; Department of Biology, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
*
Mišel Jelić
; Varaždin City Museum, Department of Natural Sciences, Varaždin, Croatia
Ivica Pakrac
; Varaždin City Museum, Department of Natural Sciences, Varaždin, Croatia
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
In February 2025, in a Diptera collection of Franjo Košćec deposited in the Varaždin city Museum, 138 horsefly specimens were identified. A total of 19 species belonging to eight genera were recorded. The most represented genera were Chrysops Meigen, 1803 and Tabanus L., 1758 (five species each), followed by Silvius Meigen, 1820; Atylotus Osten Sacken, 1876 and Hybomitra Enderlein, 1922 (two species each), while Therioplectes Zeller, 1842; Heptatoma Meigen, 1803 and Haematopota Meigen, 1803 were each represented by a single species. The most common species were C. rufipes (Meigen, 1820), A. rusticus (L., 1767), A. loewianus (Villeneuve, 1920), and C. relictus (Meigen, 1820), which together accounted for 54.35% of the analyzed specimens. The sex ratio was nearly equal (76 females, 62 males), suggesting that the specimens were likely collected using an entomological net rather than selective traps. The horseflies date from the period between 1906 and 1957, mostly originating from the Varaždin County area, while one specimen was collected in 1977 by his daughter, Ružica Košćec. Following horsefly species: S. algirus Meigen, 1830; S. alpinus (Scopoli, 1763); C. caecutiens (L., 1758); C. flavipes Meigen, 1804; C. parallelogrammus Zeller, 1842; C. rufipes Meigen, 1820; A. loewianus (Villeneuve, 1920); A. rusticus (L., 1767); Hy. bimaculata (Macquart, 1826) and T. glaucopis Meigen, 1820 identified in Diptera collection represent the first records for the fauna of Varaždin County.
Keywords
Fauna; Insects; Horseflies; Tabanidae; Varaždin; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
352592
URI
Publication date:
28.10.2026.
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