Ecology of black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) in streams of northern and southern Thailand: Factors associated with larval and pupal distributions.

ABSTRACT

The ecology of black flies in Thailand was investigated, based on 19,451 larvae and pupae collected from 65 stream sites in 10 northern provinces during the rainy, cool, and hot seasons, and 1,906 larvae and pupae collected from 18 sites in 9 southern provinces during the cool season. Twenty-seven black fly species were identified from northern Thailand, of which 26 were found in the cool season, when richness was greatest. Significant regressions between species richness and elevation fit a unimodal model in the rainy season but a linear model in the cool and hot seasons. Twenty-two species occurred in all seasons. Species in the subgenera Gomphostilbia and Nevermannia were most common in the hot season, whereas species in the subgenus Simulium were predominant in the cool season. Some species (e.g., S. nakhonense) were geographically widespread, whereas others (e.g., S. chaliowae and S. weji) were restricted to particular localities. Eighteen species and species complexes were found in southern Thailand. The S. tani complex was the most widely distributed taxon, occurring at 66.7% of the sites in the South. Ecological analyses revealed that water temperature, elevation, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and stream size were among the significant factors associated with the distributions of black flies in both regions of Thailand-the same factors associated with simuliid distributions in other areas of the world.