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I'd love to get a second opinion of the name of this female Haematopota tabanid. It was dried out from a 'wet' Malaise trap catch, so the fly isn't quite in perfect condition.

Collecting data: Southwestern Finland, August-September 2007 (O. Autio & J. Salmela leg.).

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Hi Kahis,

I have very little knowledge about Tabanidae, but I will give it a try, just to test myself: Haemotopota grandis?

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Nono, it's italica, no doubt whatsoever.
First for Finland, Kahis, is it ?

Congratulations.


Theo

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Thanks. H. italica it is. Kinda first for Finland too. This species was once reported from Finland and formally added to the fauna of the country, but in 2003 we checked all purported specimens and found them wanting. So we deleted the species from the checklist.

It is not a surprise that this species is present in Finland. The species is known from central Sweden and the Russian Leningrad district. Chv?la, Lyneborg & Moucha give the northern limit as 60deg. N lat. which is exactly where this fly was found

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You already suspected italica, didn't you ?

Theo

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No, I knew it was italica

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And with reason.


Theo

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So much for testing myself .

I just had a look at "The Horse Flies of Europe" again to check where I went wrong. I went wrong at the coupled with the "greyish sublateral spots on the tergites" (and indeed went totally wrong). After having a look at the picture of the frons of H. grandis, it doesn't look at all like the frons in the specimen of Kahis. I should be less sloppy next time.

But anyway crongratulations Kahis!

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Especially for Kahis

Yesterday I relocated my Haematopota, and I happened to note that I have 3 italica's from central Estonia.
I have been there only once, so apperently italica is not that rare in Estonia either.

Theo