Hiding in Plain Sight: An Abundant and Widespread North American Horse Fly (Diptera: Tabanidae) in the Tabanus sulcifrons Group, Tabanus variegatus Fabricius, Redescribed

Abstract

Tabanus variegatus F. 1805 has been called by the name Tabanus sulcifronsMacquart 1855 for over 80 yr; T. variegatus is one of the most common large horse flies attacking livestock in much of the southeastern U.S. Morphological, ecological, and molecular evidence indicates that T. variegatus is a distinct species, and we redescribe the female and describe the male. The Fabricius holotype, heavily damaged after over nearly 220 yr, is nevertheless taxonomically sound. Morphology (size, color, palp shape, and r5 wing cell shape) can usually distinguish T. variegatus from T. sulcifrons, but some specimens remain difficult to separate, especially in and west of the Mississippi River Valley. Using geometric morphometric analyses of the wing vein arrangement and palp shape the two species are significantly different. The wings of T. variegatus females also have more microsetae and sometimes a "frosty" appearance. Where they are common and sympatric, as in eastern Tennessee, they are temporally separated such that T. variegatus flies later (August-October) than T. sulcifrons (June-August), minimizing opportunity for gene flow. Museum specimens allow the approximate range of T. variegatus to be compared with that of T. sulcifrons s.l.; T. variegatus is particularly abundant from the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia east to central Tennessee and south to about central Alabama. DNA evidence (COI gene) recovers T. variegatus and T. sulcifrons s.s. in separate clades. Further studies on the T. sulcifrons complex are needed to fully resolve the range of both species, assess the degree of genetic substructuring, and examine relationships with other members of the T. sulcifrons complex.

Keywords: Tabanus variegatus; CO1, Tabanus sulcifrons; Tabanidae; cryptic species; morphometrics.