Horsefly fauna of three different forest communities in the Danube River floodplain in Croatia (Diptera: Tabanidae)

This paper shows the horse fly fauna of three different forest communities in the Croatian part of Baranja which extends from the Drava and Danube rivers to the Hungarian border. 22 horse fly species, which make the majority of the species, were determined in Monjoros Forest in the bell of the white willow and black poplar (ass Salici-Populetum nigrae) and in the Tikves Forest in common oak wood and dyers green weed (ass Genisto elatae-Quercetum roboris). Only 16 species were determined in the Haljevo Forest in community of common oak and hornbeam (ass Carpino betuli-Quercetum roboris). Species from the genera Chrysops, Atylotus, Hybomitra, Tabamus and Haematopota were present in all three forest communities. The largest number of horse flies or 59% of them was collected in the forest community of white willow and black poplar (ass Salici-Populetum nigrae) in the Monjoros Forest along the west bank of the Danube River. The most commonly collected species in the Monjoros and Tikves forests was Tabanus bromius Linnaeus 1758, whereas Tabanus tergestinus Egger 1859 was the most abundant in the Haljevo Forest. The results of Sorenson index indicate a rather high degree of similarity between horse fly faunas of these three studied forest communities. Seasonal abundance was analyzed for eight most abundant species. Chrysops relictus Meigen 1820, Atylotus loewianus (Villeneuve 1920), Hybomitra ciureai (Seguy 1937), T bromius, Tabanus maculicornis Zetterstedt 1842, Tabanus sudeticus Zeller 1842, T tergestinus and Haematopota pluvialis (Linnaeus 1758) in forests communities of Haljevo and Tikves Forest reached their highest peak of abundance in early summer. The same happened in the Monjoros Forest, with the exception of A loewianus that reached its maximum during the mid summer. Not a single one Mediterranean species was found in these forest communities. All other species collected in this Study were of sparse or low abundance. During this study, Atylotus fulvus (Meigen 1804) was recorded in Croatian part of Baranja for the first time.