Blackfly Vernacular
Names.
Return to Vernacular Names main page
NOTES TO THE TABLES |
Case.It is often uncertain whether names are singular or plural. Where this is known or where it is not obvious, this is indicated by #s or #p respectively. |
Other abbreviations are: mb = man biting, nmb= not man biting, tr = literal translation, gp = species group. |
Genera are abbreviated to S. = Simulium Latreille, 1802, P. = Prosimulium Roubaud, 1906, other Genera are quoted in full. |
Notes and comments in the tables are indicated by letters in square brackets and are listed below. |
a = meaning "waist-drinker" and "waist-biter"; inappropriate considering its biting-habits. |
b = meaning "Hippopotamus fly", singular, "zire dupo". |
c = also used for Chironomidae in Khartoum. Misspelt as "S. griseicollis" Becker 1906. |
d = meaning "fire-fly". |
e = includes S. pertinax (Iguazu in Misiones), S. cuneatum (Rio Parana in Corrientes), S. exiguum & S. dinellii (N.E.), S. jujuyensey & S. bonaerense (W Argentina & N. Patagonia) . |
f = In Zapoteca, "biuxi" = mosquito, "nisa" = water. |
g = or "Southern buffalo gnat", probably obsolete. |
h = used for Culicoides spp. elsewhere. |
i = semi-scientific. |
j = semi-popular |
k = also used for Culicoides spp. |
l = used by fly-fishermen. |
m = quoting Alexander von Humboldt, 1821. |
n = quoting T. Joan. |
o = recorded in 1830, and quoted by Lewis, Reference 2. |
p = translates as "midge", in use since 13C. |
q = 16C & 17C, no longer in use. |
r = 13C to present. |
s = Used by farmers. vargur = pest, paelvargur = intensive pest, fluga = fly, vargfluga = pest fly. |
t = Pallas quoted by RWC in Ref. 27. |
u = Any white-legged simuliid. |
v = Used as a generic name by Rubtsov, now considered invalid. |
w = meaning face-biting. |
x = also used for Trombiculiid mites. |
y = Used by gold miners (caboclos) for brown simuliids (resembling a brown leather jacket). |
z = Variants are: knort, knott, and knot. |
aa = Name possibly limited to species whose males form dense mating swarms. |
ab = Meaning short mosquito. |
ac = Meaning "tartan legs" in Gaelic. |
ad = Name applied to the larvae in the 1800s. |
ae = Fly swarms associated with the migration of the "buckie" or alewife fish. |
af = Flies believed to transmit chicken cholera (possibly Leucocytozoon). |
ag = Refers to the copious silk extruded by the larvae which sticks them to the bodies of swimmers and rafters. |
ah = "Rollers" refers to habit of rolling to the ground when engorged. |
ai = To gnaw like rats. |
aj = Names associated with an explosion of S. erythrocephalum biting which coincided with the bombing of parts of Serbia by NATO in 1999. Hence "Clinton's flies" or "NATO flies" |
ak = A. Loveridge in Ref. 43 is reported as believing the name derives from the streamside wild mint on which adults are often found. |
al = In work containing earliest description of the blackfly pupae (see SourceReference 9, p. 20) |
am = Southern Cone. (Spanish, Cono Sur; Portuguese, Cone Sul), all of South America south of the Tropic of Cancer. |
an = Contributed by R.W.Crosskey. Species likely to inhabit chalk springs in S, England are: costatum, trifasciatum (ornatum s.l.), augustipes, or some members of Eusimulium. |