Corresponding author: Magdi S. A. El-Hawagry (
Academic editor: Torsten Dikow
All known taxa of the family
El-Hawagry MSA, Abdel-Dayem MS, Al Dhafer HM (2020) The family Oestridae in Egypt and Saudi Arabia (Diptera, Oestroidea). ZooKeys 947: 113–142.
The
Flies of the family
Bot flies were formerly classified into four families:
Oestrid species recorded from Egypt and Saudi Arabia (* = recorded, x = not recorded).
Species | Egypt | Saudi Arabia |
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* | x | |
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* | * | |
* | x | |
* | x | |
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* | x | |
* | x | |
x | * | |
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* | x |
Larvae of the genus
The subfamily
Flies in the subfamily
Egypt and Saudi Arabia are two neighboring Middle Eastern countries separated by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba (Fig.
A satellite map of Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
An arid desert climate prevails in both countries, with the exception of small strip of the Mediterranean coastline in Egypt and the Asir Highlands along the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia. The climate in both countries is characterized by hot summer and a mild winter. From north to south across Egypt, three general climatic zones may be distinguished (Ullrich 1996): The Mediterranean coast zone with 70–200 mm annual precipitation and mean temperature ranging from 9.4 °C in January to 29.7 °C in July; the middle zone with 29N as its latitudinal boundary, with less than 1 mm (Siwa Oasis) to 35 mm (Cairo) annual precipitation, and has only slightly higher temperature than the Mediterranean coast zone and the third zone is the upper Egypt, where rainfall is scant and capricious, ranging from 3 mm (Aswan) to none, with mean temperature (at Aswan) ranging from 9.3 °C in January to 41.8 °C in July. In general, the rainfall is low in the most Egyptian areas and deserts (<80 mm annually). Only the Mediterranean coastal strip from Salloum to Alexandria, Gebel Elba in the extreme southeast, and the mountains of southern Sinai receive higher and less erratic rainfall (ca 200 mm annually). In Saudi Arabia, the average annual temperature is 25.2 °C, the average high temperature is about 37.8 °C during summer (June to August) and is about 11.1 °C during winter (December to February). It is cool, with frost and snow may occur in the Asir Highlands during winter. The precipitation is also low throughout the country (<100 mm). It is more than 480 mm in the highlands of Asir; however, a decade may pass with no precipitation at all in the Rub’ al Khali (Empty Quarter) in the southeastern Saudi Arabia (Almazroui 2011).
Efflatoun Bey, often called the “father of Egyptian entomology”, comprehensively surveyed the
During the nineteenth century, two species of subfamily
No systematic studies on bot flies have been previously conducted in Egypt. Only a list of species of dipterous families in Egypt was published by
Although documentation of biological diversity in Saudi Arabia began in the second half of the 1960s, the first traces of the Saudi Arabian oestrid flies are found in a work dated 1982, as five species,
This study is one in a series of studies planned to catalogue the superfamily
The present data were gathered from some adult specimens collected and pinned by the authors from different Egyptian and Saudi Arabian localities, in addition to adult specimens pinned and preserved in
This study catalogues all known taxa of the family
Family-group and genus-group names are written in bold uppercase letters and left-justified, with the genus-group names italicized. The genus-group names are listed again and left-justified under the headings, and written in bold italicized letters, with the first letter in uppercase and the remaining letters in lowercase, followed by the author, year, journal, and pages. Type species for each genus is given at the end, followed by the method by which it was fixed. Species names are left-justified as well, and written in bold italicized letters. Names of taxonomically valid species (senior synonyms) are listed again, combined with their original genera and left-justified under the headings followed by the author, year, journal, and pages. Synonyms of genera and species are listed in chronological order and written in regular italicized letters, followed by the author, year, journal, and pages as in senior taxa. The type locality for each species, including both senior and junior synonyms, is provided from the original descriptions. World distribution of each species based on relevant literature is listed alphabetically. The concept of
Abbreviations used:
Nose bot fly or Lip bot fly.
See Table
Localities, hosts, and dates of collection of
Country | Zone or Region | Locality | Coordinates | Host/s | Months of collection | Reference |
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Egypt | Coastal Strip | Alexandria |
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mules and donkeys (from stomachs) | from October to April |
|
Horse bot fly.
See Table
Localities, hosts, and dates of collection of
Country | Zone or Region | Locality | Coordinates | Host/s | Months of collection | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Egypt | Coastal Strip | Alexandria |
|
mules and donkeys (from stomachs) | from October to April |
|
Lower Nile Valley & Delta | Cairo (at slaughterhouse of the National Cairo Circus) |
|
donkeys | throughout the year |
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|
Cairo (at Cairo Manure Co.) |
|
mules and donkeys (from stomachs) | April to December | museum material (see material examined) | ||
Cairo (abattoir) |
|
donkeys (from stomachs) | June | museum material (see material examined) | ||
Giza (Giza Zoo) |
|
donkeys (from stomachs) | throughout the year | |||
|
widespread in all regions, especially abundant in Al-Ehsaa, El-Kharj and Riyadh | Al-Ehsaa |
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donkeys and horses (from stomachs) | March to September |
|
El-Kharj |
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donkeys and horses (from stomachs) | March to September | |||
Riyadh (near slaughterhouse) |
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from dead domestic horse | March |
|
Egypt • 1 male; Cairo Manure Co.;
Distribution map of
Throat bot fly or Horse nasal bot fly.
Cosmopolitan.
see Table
Localities, hosts, and dates of collection of
Country | Zone or Region | Locality | Coordinates | Host/s | Months of collection | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Egypt | Coastal Strip | Alexandria |
|
mules and donkeys (from stomachs) | from October to April |
|
Lower Nile Valley & Delta | Abu-Rawash |
|
not given | May | museum material (see material examined) | |
Cairo (at slaughter house of the National Cairo Circus) |
|
donkeys | throughout the year |
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Cairo (no further data) | – | – | – |
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Cairo (at Cairo Manure Co.) |
|
mules (from stomachs) | June | museum material (see material examined) | ||
Helwan |
|
not given | April and December | museum material (see material examined) | ||
Maadi |
|
not given | April | museum material (see material examined) | ||
|
Widespread in all regions, especially abundant in Al-Ehsaa, El-Kharj and Riyadh | Al-Ehsaa |
|
donkeys and horses (from stomachs) | March to September |
|
El-Kharj |
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donkeys and horses (from stomachs) | March to September | |||
Riyadh (near slaughterhouse) |
|
from dead domestic horse | March |
|
Egypt • 1 male; Abu-Rawash;
Distribution map of
Horse stomach bot fly.
See Table
Localities, hosts, and dates of collection of
Country | Zone or Region | Locality | Coordinates | Host/s | Months of collection | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Egypt | Lower Nile Valley & Delta | Helwan |
|
not given | April | museum material (see material examined) |
Egypt • 1 female; Helwan;
Dark-winged horse bot fly.
See Table
Localities, hosts, and dates of collection of
Country | Zone or Region | Locality | Coordinates | Host/s | Months of collection | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Egypt | Coastal Strip | Alexandria |
|
mules and donkeys (from stomachs) | from October to April |
|
Ox warble fly.
Unknown.
This species is known to be recorded in Egypt only from the list of
No specific common name.
See Table
Localities, hosts, and dates of collection of
Country | Zone or Region | Locality | Coordinates | Host/s | Months of collection | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Egypt | Lower Nile Valley & Delta | Helwan |
|
not given | April |
|
Distribution map of
Lesser cattle warble fly.
Cosmopolitan.
See Table
Localities, hosts, and dates of collection of
Country | Zone or Region | Locality | Coordinates | Host/s | Months of collection | Reference |
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Riyadh | Dhurma |
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a dairy cow air-shipped from Canada | unknown |
|
Makkah | Wadi Qatan |
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domestic goat | November |
|
Goat warble fly.
See Table
Localities, hosts, and dates of collection of
Country | Zone or Region | Locality | Coordinates | Hosts and/or methods of collection | Months of collection | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Egypt | Sinai | Al Arish (abattoir) |
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goats (larvae from slaughtered goats, and adults by baited traps) | throughout the year |
|
Bir Al Abd |
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goats (larvae from slaughtered goats, and adults by baited traps) | throughout the year |
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Hasanah |
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goats (larvae from slaughtered goats, and adults by baited traps) | throughout the year |
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Al-Baha | Al-Mekhwa |
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sweeping net by El-Hawagry | February | collected specimen (see material examined) |
Makkah | Jeddah (Jeddah Abattoir) |
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goats (nodules caused by larvae are noticed on the backs of goat carcasses) | December to April |
|
Saudi Arabia • 1 female; Al-Mekhwa;
Distribution map of
Camel nasal bot fly.
See Table
Localities, hosts, and dates of collection of
Country | Zone or Region | Locality | Coordinates | Hosts and/or methods of collection | Months of collection | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Egypt | Lower Nile Valley & Delta | Abu-Rawash |
|
dromedary camels (from the nasal cavities) | May | museum material (see material examined) |
Birqash |
|
sweeping, by El-Hawagry | June | collected specimens (see material examined) | ||
Cairo (Cairo abattoir) |
|
dromedary camels (from the nasal cavities) | throughout the year | museum material (see material examined) | ||
El-Bassatin (abattoir) |
|
camels | not given |
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El-Warrak (abattoir) |
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camels | not given |
|
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Kerdassa |
|
dromedary camels (from the nasal cavities) | May | museum material (see material examined) | ||
Sinai | W. El-Sheikh |
|
not given | April | museum material (see material examined) | |
|
all regions | widespread | – | dromedary camels (nasal cavities) | throughout the year | |
Riyadh | Riyadh (slaughterhouse) |
|
dromedary camels | March to May |
|
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Makkah | Jeddah (Jeddah abattoir) |
|
dromedary camels | throughout the year |
|
Egypt • 1 male; Cairo abattoir;
Saudi Arabia • 2 females; Riyadh, slaughterhouse;
Sheep nasal bot fly.
Cosmopolitan (introduced with sheep in most parts of the world, see
See Table
Localities, hosts, and dates of collection of
Country | Zone or Region | Locality | Coordinates | Hosts and/or methods of collection | Months of collection | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Egypt | Coastal Strip | Burg |
|
not given | March | material (see material examined) |
Eastern Desert | Wadi El-Mallah | – | not given | May | material (see material examined) | |
Wadi Hoff |
|
not given | April | material (see material examined) | ||
Wadi Rishrash |
|
not given | November to April | material (see material examined) | ||
Lower Nile Valley & Delta | Ashmoun Gereiss |
|
sheep (reared from larvae from nose) | March | material (see material examined) | |
Cairo, Cairo (abattoir) |
|
sheep (from nose) | April to December | museum material (see material examined) and |
||
El-Hager |
|
sweeping net by El-Hawagry | April | collected specimens (see material examined) | ||
El-Katta |
|
not given | September | museum material (see material examined) | ||
Kerdassa |
|
sheep (from nose) | March and April | museum material (see material examined) | ||
Wardan |
|
sheep (reared from larvae from nose) | March | material (see material examined) | ||
|
all regions | widespread | – | sheep and goats (from the nasal cavities and head sinuses) | March to June |
|
Asir | widespread (slaughterhouses) | – | not given | throughout the year |
|
|
Jazan | Abu Arish |
|
Sheep (heads) | throughout the year |
|
|
Riyadh | Riyadh (slaughterhouse) |
|
sheep and goats | May |
|
Egypt • 1 male; Burg;
Equine nasal bot fly.
See Table
Localities, hosts, and dates of collection of
Country | Zone or Region | Locality | Coordinates | Hosts and/or methods of collection | Months of collection | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Egypt | Lower Nile Valley & Delta | Cairo |
|
Donkey (from head) | May | museum material (see material examined) |
El-Magadlah | – | not given | April | museum material (see material examined) | ||
Giza |
|
not given | May | museum material (see material examined) | ||
Giza, Giza zoo abattoir (donkeys originally obtained from four governorates: Giza, Monofia, Fayoum, and Bani Sweif) |
|
donkeys | throughout the year |
|
Egypt and Saudi Arabia are biogeographically comparable being located at the junction of the Palearctic and the Afrotropical Realms. In Egypt, the Afrotropical Realm is thought to involve the southeastern triangle of the country, which known as the Gebel Elba ecological zone. This is the only ecological zone in Egypt, which has an Afrotropical faunal affiliation. However, the faunal affiliation of the other seven ecological zones is mostly Palearctic, namely, the Coastal Strip, Eastern Desert, Western Desert, Fayoum, Lower Nile Valley, and Delta, Sinai, and Upper Nile Valley (Fig.
Oestrid flies in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as far as is known, infest domesticated animals and in some cases humans. Infections with
The low abundance and diversity of species in both Egypt and Saudi Arabia should be taken with caution, since the family seems to lack sampling efforts in both countries. We think that the distributional data of these economically important flies within Egypt and Saudi Arabia is still scanty, and more efforts would be highly desirable in the future. Nevertheless, the present catalogue presented some new locality records especially for
The authors would like to extend their sincere appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University for funding this study [research group: RGP-1438-082].
We are grateful to Editage, a division of cactus communications (