OBSERVATIONS ON THE DISTRIBUTION 
OF TABANIDAE IN THE CARIBBEAN AREA, 
WITH NEW RECORDS OF SPECIES 
FROM TRINIDAD, B.W.I. (DIPTERA) 
By E. McC. Callan 
Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, 
Grahamstown, South Africa 1 
Since the appearance of Dr. J. C. Bequaert’s papers on 
the Tabanidae of Trinidad (1940, Bull. ent. Res., 30: 447- 
453 and 1944, Psyche, 51: 12-21), three further species 
have been found in that island. This brings the total to 34 
species now known from Trinidad, B.W.I. 
Dr. Alan Stone and Dr. G. B. Fairchild have kindly 
examined material of these three species. I am much in- 
debted to Dr. Stone for the determination of Tabanus 
( Chlorotabanus ) inanis Fabricius. To Dr. Fairchild I am 
very grateful for the determination of Stibasoma sulfuro- 
taeniata Krober var. and Fidena sp. near niveibarba Krober 
and his remarks in regard to them. 
An important discussion of the tabanid fauna of the 
Caribbean islands has been published by Bequaert (1940, 
Revista Ent., 11: 253-369), and Fairchild (1942, Ann. ent. 
Soc. Amer., 35: 441-474) has presented a very interesting 
resume of the Tabanidae of Panama. The table below gives 
the number of species of Tabanidae known from various 
West Indian islands and adjacent parts of the Caribbean 
region with their approximate area in square miles. 
It is evident that Trinidad, for its size, has an exception- 
ally rich Tabanid fauna. Indeed, Trinidad has more species 
of Tabanidae than any other comparable area in the Carib- 
bean region. Further, no really intensive collecting of 
Tabanidae has ever been done in the island, most species 
1 Observations were made while the writer was on the staff of the 
Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad, B.W.I. 
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