Bionomics of the Tabanidae (Diptera) of the Canadian Prairie

Abstract

Notwithstanding the undoubted economic importance of the Tabanidae, which is second only to that of the Culicidae among blood-sucking insects, our information concerning the habits and life-histories of Canadian species is very meagre indeed. What knowledge we possess has been chiefly derived from the studies made by entomologists of the United States, who have discussed among others some of the species that occur on both sides of the international boundary. Of the species dealt with in the present paper, Hart (1896, p. 227) observed oviposition by Chrysops moerens, Walk., in Illinois, and a description of the egg was given. This brief account was supplemented by Hine (1906, p. 36) in Ohio, who published a detailed description of the process of oviposition of the same species and was, moreover, successful in rearing Tabanus lasiophthalmus, Macq., from the egg to the adult—the first time that this had been accomplished for a Tabanid species. Jones & Bradley (1923, p. 310), working in Louisiana, discovered in the course of their investigations on the Tabanidae a single larva of T. reinwardtii, Wied., from which an adult was reared, but no description of the larva was offered. Webb & Wells (1924) published an account of the partial life-cycle of T. phaenops, O.S., including descriptions of the early stages, as well as of T. insuetus, O.S., in which all stages other than the egg were obtained and described.