Tabanini of Thailand above Isthmus of Kra (Diptera: Tabanidae)

This monograph on the Tabanini of part of Thailand is based upon the author’s field observations and collections and a study of museum specimens from various sources. It includes a discussion on the economic importance of Indochinese Tabanidae, in which it is reported that although tabanids attack and annoy man, they prefer livestock, and their principal economic importance is the direct effect of their biting activity on livestock; this has never been quantified in the Oriental Region. The great increase in biting activity during the last hour before darkness in Thailand suggests that the problem might be reduced by sheltering stock during that hour. Biting activity is described in the accounts of the morphology, taxonomy, distribution and biology of some of the many species (mainly in Tabanus) recognised, 31 of them newly described. A key to the species is provided, based on characters in the adult females. Among a considerable number of taxonomic changes proposed, the most important is the transfer of T. macer (Big.) to T. dorsilinea Wied.