Tabanids are a cosmopolitan family of usually medium to large-sized Diptera,
commonly known as horse or deer flies. Females of extant forms are blood
feeders and obtain their meals from a variety of vertebrate hosts. Males
feed on nectar and pollen. Larvae are found in a variety of terrestrial
to semi-aquatic habitats, usually in sand or soil of varying wetness where
they are known to prey on other invertebrates.
The oldest named fossil tabanid is a species of Tabanus from the Eocene/
Oligocene deposits of the Isle of Wight described by Cockerell (1921c).
The species of Haematopota described by Stuckenberg (1975) as from Baltic
amber has been shown by Lewis et al. (1977) to actually be a copal
inclusion from an unknown locality in Africa. An older undetermined compression
fossil of Tabanidae from the Middle Jurassic Mont-Saint-Marin deposit in
Luxemburg was noted by Maurice (1882). There are Cretaceous genera described
by Kovalev (1986) from Mongolia, but are treated in this catalog as unplaced
in Tabanoidea.
In addition to the described forms listed below, Scudder (1895: 121) recorded
a possible new genus and species of tabanid from the Miocene Oeningen deposits
of Switzerland. Undescribed Tabanidae have been noted from the Eocene of
the Green River Formation (Bradley, 1931; Swanson & Lewis, 1993), which
would make them the oldest representatives of this family from the North
American continent.
The Cretaceous genus Protabanus, described by Hong (1982) has been
shown by Grimaldi (1990) and Zhang (1993b) to belong to the order Homoptera,
where it has been placed in the cicadoid family Tettigarctidae by Hamilton
(1992: 429) in his catalog of Mesozoic Homoptera genera.
Ref.: Moucha (1972, review of fossil taxa); Leclerque (1989, list
of fossil taxa).
AEMODIPSUS Aymard, 1856: 42. Nomen nudum.
AEMODIPSUS Maneval, 1936: 35. Type species: Aemodipsus bornensis
Maneval, 1936, by monotypy.
bornensis Maneval, 1936: 35. PA: France (Oligocene) [C].
bornensis Aymard, 1856: 42 (Aemodipsus). Nomen nudum.
*CHRYSOPS Meigen, 1803: 267. Type species: Tabanus caecutiens
Linnaeus, 1758, by monotypy.
seguyi Piton, 1940: 215. PA: France (Oligocene) [C].
*HAEMATOPOTA Meigen, 1803: 267. Type species: Tabanus pluvialis
Linnaeus, 1758, by monotypy.
pinicola Stuckenberg, 1975: 460. PA: Baltic Region (Eocene/Oligocene)
[A] [error, = AF: Unknown (Pleistocene)] [K].
*HEPTATOMA Meigen, 1803: 226. Type species: Heptatoma bimaculata
Meigen, 1804 [= Tabanus pellucens Fabricius, 1776], by subsequent
monotypy in Meigen (1804: 156).
[Heptatoma originally proposed without named species. The bibliographic
reference "Tabanus Schaeff. Icon. Tab. 72. fig. 6p;8"
does not constitute inclusion of a nominal species according to I.C.Z.N.
Code Article 69(a)(i)(2).]
*HEXATOMA Meigen, 1820: 83. Type species: Heptatoma bimaculata
Meigen, 1804 [= Tabanus pellucens Fabricius, 1776], by monotypy.
[Preoccupied by Latreille, 1809.]
oeningensis Heer, 1864: 394 (Hexatoma). PA: Switzerland (Oligocene)
[C]. New combination.
*SILVIUS Meigen, 1820: 27. Type species: Tabanus vituli
Fabricius, 1805 [= Tabanus alpinus Scopoli, 1763], by monotypy.
merychippi Melander, 1947: 43. NE: USA (Oligocene) [C].
*STENOTABANUS Lutz, 1913: 487. Type species: Tabanus taeniotes
Wiedemann, 1828, by subsequent monotypy in Lutz & Neiva (1914: 73).
brodzinskyi Lane, Poinar & Fairchild, 1988: 594. NT: Dominican
Republic (Oligocene/Miocene) [A].
woodruffi Fairchild & Lane, 1989: 630. NT: Dominican Republic
(Oligocene/ Miocene) [A].
*TABANUS Linnaeus, 1758: 601. Type species: Tabanus bovinus
Linnaeus, 1758, by subsequent designation of Latreille (1810: 443).
hipparionis Cockerell, 1909c: 67. NE: USA (Oligocene) [C].
merychippi Cockerell, 1916c: 96. NE: USA (Oligocene) [C].
parahippi Cockerell, 1909c: 67. NE: USA (Oligocene) [C].
statzi Moucha, 1972: 28 (new replacement name for fulvescens
Statz). PA: Germany (Oligocene) [C].
fulvescens Statz, 1940: 130. PA: Germany (Oligocene) [C]. [Preoccupied
by Walker, 1848.]
*sudeticus Zeller, 1842: 815. PA: Poland; Europe, North Africa, Morocco;
PA: Germany (Pliocene) [C].
ssp. fossilis Grabenhorst, 1985: 325. PA: Germany (Pliocene) [C].
vectensis Cockerell, 1921c: 472 (Chrysops). PA: UK (England) (Eocene/Oligocene)
[C].
laticornis Meunier, 1902d: 396 (Silvius). PA: Baltic Region (Eocene/Oligocene)
[A].
laticornis Loew, 1850b: 40 (Silvius). Nomen nudum.