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Horse flies and deer flies [a] are true flies in the family Tabanidae in the insect order Diptera. The adults are often large and agile in flight. Only females bite land vertebrates, including humans, to obtain blood. They prefer to fly in sunlight, avoiding dark and shady areas, and are inactive at night.
These horse flies can be encountered during the daylight hours from late May through late October. [5] The males are harmless and feed on nectar, [7] while the females feed on mammal blood (hematophagy) (hence the Latin name Haematopota pluvialis, literally meaning 'blooddrinker of the rains'), mainly cattle and horses, needing blood for developing eggs.
The thorax is covered with long hairs that give it a creamy white color, while the abdomen is completely black. [4] Much like other horse fly species, the Tabanus punctifer female requires a blood meal for the development of their eggs. [5] Females will bite horses, livestock, and humans, making them vectors of disease for pathogens and ...
On the other end of the spectrum, horse flies and deer flies use "blade-like" mouthparts to slash the skin before eating the spilling blood, which causes large, painful bites, Frye says.
Tabanus bovinus, sometimes called the pale giant horse-fly, is a species of biting horse-fly. [2] As the scientific name suggests, it prefers bovine animals as the source of blood, although it may bite other kind of mammals as well. The insect is relatively large for a horse-fly, adults usually being 25–30 mm long.
The body is black and the wings are transparent, with a small dark patch at the base of the vein R4. [7] [8] Face is black haired, with high antennal bows. Palpi are blackish with black hairs. The compound eyes are well-developed in both sexes. They have an iridescent light green pigmentation, with three blue-reddish transversal bands. [7] [8]
On cattle and horses, they feed on secretions around the eyes, mouth and nostrils. The adult flies will also feed on the hosts' blood through wounds such as horse-fly bites. A larger proportion of face flies on the host will be females, as they have a higher need for protein provided by animal hosts. At night, both sexes will rest on vegetation.
Adult yellow flies are around 1 centimetre (0.39 in) long with yellow bodies, mid-legs, and hind-legs, and black fore-legs. The eyes are blue-green with purple bands. They fly with little sound, and the first sign of their presence noticed by humans is usually their bite.