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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 female horseflies bite land vertebrates, including humans, to obtain blood. They prefer to fly in sunlight, avoiding dark and shady areas, and are inactive at night.
The dark giant horsefly's length is around 20-25 millimeters. [8] They have uniform dark brown eyes. [8] Dark giant horseflies are a common species to be found buzzing around cows and horses. [8] They usually only suck blood from those horses and cows, avoiding humans. [8] They fly with a very loud buzzing. [8] [9]
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.
Horsefly bites. iStock. Dr. Giangreco says painful red bumps are par for the course with horsefly bites. According to the Cleveland Clinic, horseflies live near water in areas where they can ...
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.
(Pictured here is a horse fly bite.) Symptoms to note: More often than not, fly bites are going to hurt. After the pain subsides, some may also become itchy, but most fly bites are innocuous.
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 horsefly can then extract and ingest the animal's blood. Horseflies of this genus are known to be potential vectors of anthrax, worms and trypanosomes. Some species, such as Tabanus bovinus, prefer bovine animals and are less harmful to humans. The genus contains hundreds of species and many species groups. [1] [2] [3]