Tribe Scionini
Introduction
The hairy-eyed horse fly tribe Scionini comprises more than 280 austral species dispersed across Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and South America. Adult flies are underappreciated pollinators and frequent visitors to Eucalyptus, Grevillea, Melaleuca and Leptospermum in Australia and New Zealand. The females also have the ability to mechanically transmit several disease-causing microbes in cattle, horses, macropods and even humans.
Mackerras (1960) provided the foundational work for the taxonomy of the Australian members which was adopted my subsequent workers. Lessard et al. (2013) later produced the first molecular phylogeny for the Scionini to demonstrate the well-supported monophyly for the tribe, although the widespread genus Scaptia was identified as paraphyletic and formed a series of monophyletic clades corresponding to subgenera or previously synonymised genera. The Scionini were later revised by Lessard (2014) and are now recognised to include 17 valid genera.
General References
Lessard, B.D. 2014. Revision of the austral horse fly tribe Scionini (Diptera: Tabanidae). Austral Entomology [printed version: Austral Entomology (2014) 53, 203–239]
Lessard, B.D., Cameron, S.L., Bayless, K.M., Wiegmann, B.M. & Yeates, D.K. 2013. The evolution and biogeography of the austral horse fly tribe Scionini (Diptera: Tabanidae: Pangoniinae) inferred from multiple mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 68: 516-540
Mackerras, I.M. 1960. The Tabanidae (Diptera) of Australia III. Subfamily Pangoniinae, tribe Scionini and supplement to Pangoniini. Australian Journal of Zoology 8: 1-152
History of changes
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22-Mar-2022 | TABANIDAE | 26-Oct-2021 | MODIFIED | Dr Bryan Lessard (ABRS) |
| 27-Apr-2012 | 27-Apr-2012 | MODIFIED | ||
| 12-Feb-2010 | (import) |