Culicidae

• Culex pipiens (Northern House Mosquito)
• Aedes canadensis
• Anopheles quadrimaculatus
• Anopheles pseudopunctapennis
• Psorophora ferox

• Tabanus abdominalis
• Tabanus americanus
• Tabanus aranti
• Tabanus atratus (Black Horse Fly)
• Tabanus calens
• Tabanus catenatus
• Tabanus chiliopterus fronto
• Tabanus crepuscularis
• Tabanus fairchildi
• Tabanus fulvulus
• Tabanus fuscicostatus
• Tabanus lineola (Striped Horse Fly)
• Tabanus limbatinervris
• Tabanus longiusculus
• Tabanus molestus mixus
• Tabanus maculatus
• Tabanus mularis
• Tabanus nigripes
• Tabanus nigrescens
• Tabanus pallidescens
• Tabanus petiolatus
• Tabanus pumilus
• Tabanus quinquevittatus
• Tabanus sackeni
• Tabanus sparus
• Tabanus sulcifrons
• Tabanus subniger
• Tabanus subsimulus
• Tabanus superjumentarius
• Tabanus trimaculatus
• Leucotabanus sp.
• Hybomitra carolinesis
• Hybomitra lasiopthalma
• Chrysops abberans
• Chrysops delicatus
• Chrysops impuctus
• Chrysops moechus
• Chrysops upsilon

Former Berry Student William Nicholson with Malaise Trap 
 

     During the 1980s several students worked with Professor John McDowell on the dynamics of tabanid populations on the Berry College Campus.  Tabanids are the familiar horse flies and deer flies.  Many are serious pests of livestock and people.

     Nicholson and McDowell (1983) studied seasonal patterns of horse fly distribution and abundance on the Berry College Campus, where extensive beef and dairy herds are coupled with ideal horse fly breeding habitat.  In 1981 and 1982, they collected horseflies of three genera and twenty-four species in Townes Malaise and modified Manitoba traps.  Eight of the more abundant species showed seasonal patterns of abundance.  For example, Hybomitra lasiopthalma was abundant during the early season, from late April to late May.  Tabanus sparus, T. quinquevittatus, T. molestus mixus, T. petiolatus, T. fulvulvus, and T. abdominalis were abundant during the middle of the season, from late May to early September.  Tabanus cheliopterus fronto was abundant later in the season.  Of all the tabanids, T. quinquevittatus was abundant for the longest time.  Overall, the most abundant tabanid on campus was T. molestus mixis.

     Bickel and McDowell (1984) again studied the seasonal abundance of horse flies on Berry Campus, in 1982 and 1983.  The most abundant species was Tabanus molestus mixus, making up 37 and 40 percent of each season's collection.  The seasonal abundance of this species was consistent from year to year; in both years they were present from the first week of June to the last week of July.  Peak abundance was in the first week of July.  In both years, T. molestus mixus, T. fulvulus, and T. quinquevittatus were among the five most abundant species on campus.

                                     Seasonal variation in tabanid abundance (1982)

The five most abundant species of horse flies over the entire three-year study were:

Tabanid Species                    Number Collected

Tabanus molestus mixus              2257
Tabanus fulvulus                          1254
Tabanus sulcifrons                         942
Tabanus quinquevittatus              618
Tabanus sparus                               289
 
 

Bickel, Julie Ann and John W. McDowell. 1984.  Comparison of seasonal patterns of horsefly (Diptera: Tabanidae) populations on Berry Campus.  Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Georgia Academy of Sciences.

Nicholson, William L. and John W. McDowell. 1983. Seasonal patterns of horsefly (Diptera: Tabanidae) populations on Berry Campus.  Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Georgia Academy of Sciences.

Last Updated 1 February 2008