Tabanidae Fauna (Order: Diptera) of the Arab Countries in the Middle East

Abstract

Family Tabanidae (Diptera) has cosmopolitan distribution with about 4455 described species. A comprehensive review of literature was conducted to list the recorded species from Arab countries of the Middle East (Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen). The study reveals the presence of 110 species in four subfamilies and 13 genera. To the moment, the Tabanidae of the Arab countries of the Middle East is poorly studied. Syria and Lebanon do not have a valid checklist, while Iraq, Palestine and the United Arab Emirates are fragmentarily studied. Jordan and Saudi Arabia were well studied. However, this study did not list any species from Bahrain and Qatar.