S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 61. (Budapest, 2000)

study on the territory of Croatia was to examine some features of the behaviour of male horse-flies, because there are only few reliable pieces of information about the mating and mating-related behaviour of European tabanids. MATERIAL AND METHODS Sampling was carried out on 214 stations in continental and in the Mediterranean areas of Croatia from 1992 to 1996. Several specimens were also collected earlier, in 1987, 1990 and 1991. Sampling sites were located mainly near forests, around lakes and on pastures adjacent to a river. Males of horse-flies were collected only by means of a sampling net on the blooms of plants, on the humid soil of forest paths, on riverbanks, in car, in forests and on the windows of buildings. All collected specimens were determined by means of the following keys: Chvála et al. (1972) and Majer (1987). The names of the species were written according to the catalogue of Chvála (1988). RESULTS A total of 18,503 horse-flies was collected from 1987 to 1996. The collected sample comprised 202 male specimens of 24 species (Table 1). This means that 1.09% of the collected horse-flies were males. According to the consulted literature and after the examination of other collections of horse-flies, the number of determined species of horse-flies increased, so that now there are 39 species and 1 subspecies of male horseflies in Croatia (Table 2). All determined species and subspecies were classified into 10 genera (Table 3). The most numerous genus was Tabanus with 15 species while other genera were represented as follows: Chrysops 7 species; Atylotus, Haematopota and Dasyrhamphis with 3 species each; Hybomitra 2 species and 1 subspecies; Silvias and Philipomyia 2 species each and Therioplectes and Heptatoma with one determined species each. Most of the collected specimens belong to the genus Tabanus, followed by the genera Atylotus, Dasyrhamphis, Chrysops, Philipomyia, Haematopota, Silvias, Therioplectes and Heptatoma (Table 3). The males of the species Chrysops caecutiens were collected in May by means of a sweeping net on white blooms of Clematis flamula in the canyon of the river Cetina near Omis at 8

10 a.m. with air temperature of 21°C. The most numerous males of Atylotus loewianus were collected in July and August when they alighted on the roof of a red car. They touched the car surface for just a moment and then they swiftly flew off the roof and remained hovering several centimeters above it. This behaviour of the male horse-flies resembled dancing. Male specimens of the species Atylotus loewianus were collected both in the morning and in the afternoon on sun-lit paths of a forest consisting of oak-trees and plain hornebeams of the association QuercoCarpinetum croaticum. Most of these males were collected on 5th August 1994 when in swarms they alighted on the roof and on the hood of the car, the air temperature was 26°C. One male of Hybomitra bimaculata was collected in May on the station in Normand in continental Croatia in the forest consisting of oak-trees and hornbeams of the association Carpino betuli- Quercetum roboris typicum at 6.20 p.m. with air temperature of 22°C. In August, one dead male of the species Hybomitra ciureai was found next to a window of a restaurant in the immediate vicinity of the river Drava in Osijek. Two males of Tabanus autumnalis were collected by means of a sweeping net on the station in Borovik in the forest consisting of oak-trees and plain hornbeams of the association Querco-Carpinetum croaticum on a morning with air temperature of 24°C. Two