Mating and oviposition behaviour of Tabanus gibensis (Diptera: Tabanidae)

Adult males and females of Tabanus gibensis (Diptera: Tabanidae) wee collected on a bridge over the Gibe River in Ethiopia during November 1986. Males perched on top of the bridge, and pursued females in attempts to mate with them; 3 copulations were observed. Females perched on the side and the underside of the bridge and oviposited communally in large aggregations on the underside of the bridge. Half the females collected on the bridge were gravid, and were probably there to oviposit; 2 were uninseminated and were probably there to be mated. Both sexes had only small amounts of carbohydrate in their oesophageal diverticula.