Black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) of the Aras River Basin: Species composition and floral visitation

Black flies are insects of medical, veterinary, and environmental significance. Historically, they have attacked humans and caused simuliotoxicosis in livestock in the Aras River Basin in northwest Iran. However, information on the species and their bionomics is limited in the region. Adult flies were collected from diverse ecotopes of the Aras River Basin. After morphological identification, representative specimens of each morphological group were subjected to mtDNA COI gene sequence analysis for species diagnosis and to infer relationships. Flies also were examined for pollinia. A total of 1880 specimens representing 12 morphotaxa in two genera (Simulium and Metacnephia) were identified: Simulium turgaicum (n=1834), S. kiritshenkoi (n=12), S. bezzii (n=7), S. brevitarse (n=7), S. pseudequinum (n=5), S. aureum species group (n=4), S. vernum species group (n=3), S. transcaspicum (n=1), three unidentified species of the subgenus Simulium (n=5), and Metacnephia possibly persica (n=2). Fifty two haplotypes were detected for the 65 COI sequences analyzed. Intraspecific genetic divergence was 0.19-8.83%, whereas the mean interspecific genetic distances among the morphotaxa were 1.41-19.58%. Molecular analyses recovered three well-supported lineages within S. turgaicum. One lineage included black flies collected from agricultural fields, a second lineage involved black flies captured from animals, and a third lineage included specimens that had visited flowers, as evidenced by presence of pollinia. The relative abundance (97%) and observations of the S. turgaicum complex biting humans are important epidemiological factors. Future studies are needed to define the potential epidemiological risk of simulids in Khoda-Afarin County of Iran.