Cretaceous Horse flies and their phylogenetic significance (Diptera: Tabanidae)

Abstract

Popularly known as horse flies or deer flies, Tabanidae, has 4.400 described species distributed worldwide. Most of the females are hematophagous, but several species are also flower visitors. Cretaceous fossils of Tabanidae are scarce and the known fossil species have plesiomorphic features unknown in modern horse flies. Here, we revised the taxonomy of the Tabanidae from the Crato Formation of Brazil describing a new genus, Araripus gen. nov., and two new species – Araripus crassitibialis sp. nov. and Cratotabanus cearensis sp. nov. The holotype of Cratotabanus stonemyomorphus, the type species of Cratotabanus, is redescribed, and the male is described for the first time. In addition, we investigate the phylogenetic position of Cretaceous horse fly fossils using morphological characters in the context of a wider analysis also including representatives of extant lineages.