New records of Tabanidae (Diptera) in an ecotone zone between the Cerrado and the Amazon Forest and an updated list of species of Tocantins, Brazil

Abstract

Abstract Tabanidae is a family of the order Diptera composed of insects popularly known as horse flies. Compared to the current knowledge about other insects, tabanids can be considered a well-studied group in Brazil, however, little is known about the Tabanidae fauna in the Tocantins state, since only 44 species had been recorded for the state, which is not a very significant number among the 488 species recorded for the country. Thereby, we aimed to enlarge the knowledge of tabanids present in the state by identifying the specimens collected over the last decade in an important transition area between the Cerrado and Amazon domains. We accounted 302 specimens distributed in three subfamilies (Pangoniinae, Chrysopsinae, and Tabaninae), four tribes (Scionini, Chrysopsini, Diachlorini, and Tabanini), 12 genera, 29 species, and two varieties. Of these, only eight species and the two varieties had been recorded in the Tocantins state, numbering 21 new records for the state. Thus, we updated the records of Tabanidae for the Tocantins state for 65 known species.