Check List 20(5): 1083-1095, doi: 10.15560/20.5.1083

Annotated checklist of louse flies (Diptera, Hippoboscidae) occurring in Estonia

Olavi Kurina^‡, Kristjan Jaak Valk^‡

‡ Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia

Corresponding author: Olavi Kurina ( olavi.kurina@emu.ee )

Academic editor: Maíra Araújo

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation: Kurina O, Valk KJ (2024) Annotated checklist of louse flies (Diptera, Hippoboscidae) occurring in Estonia. Check List 20(5): 1083-1095. https://doi.org/10.15560/20.5.1083

Abstract

Previous data on Estonian louse flies (Diptera, Hippoboscidae) are dispersed across various, mainly local scientific articles and popular science writings, making them inaccessible to a broader interna‑ tional audience. No comprehensive species list or reviews are currently available. This study consolidates data from published sources, insect collections, and newly collected specimens to provide a comprehen‑ sive species list, supplemented with voucher specimen information. In total, nine species are confirmed to occur in Estonia, including two species, Ornithomya chloropus (Bergroth, 1901) and O. fringillina Curtis, 1836, recorded for the first time. Two species associated with livestock, Hippobosca equina Linnaeus, 1758 and Melophagus ovinus (Linnaeus, 1758), have been rarely encountered and are apparently nearing local extinction due to the increased use of effective insecticides and a decline in farming. Collection locality maps and habitus photographs from collected specimens are provided for all nine Estonian species.

Keywords

Distribution, Europe, faunistics, new country records, taxonomy