The Horse Fly – Thursday 21st February 2013
February 21, 2013 in Wildlife Village by Jan
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Good Morning Villagers. It seemed only fitting that after yesterdays post I did this one! “Will you walk into my parlour?” said the Spider to the Fly,‘Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I’ve a many curious things to show when you are there.”“Oh no, no,” said the little Fly, “to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair
-can ne’er come down again.” ~By Mary Howitt, 1829
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Horse-fly is the most widely-used English common name for members of the family Tabanidae. Apart from the common name “horse-flies”, broad categories of biting, bloodsucking Tabanidae are variously known as breeze flies, clegs or clags, deer flies, gadflies, or zimbs. In some areas of Canada, they also are known as Bull Dog Flies. In Australia some species are known as “March flies“, a name that in other English-speaking countries refers to a very different Dipteran family, the non-bloodsucking Bibionidae. The Tabanidae are true flies, that is to say, members of the insect order Diptera. Tabanid species that habitually attack humans and livestock are widely regarded as pests because of the bites that females of most species inflict, and the diseases and parasites that some species transmit. The various species of Tabanidae range from medium-sized to very large in size. Some species, such as deer flies and the Australian March flies, are known for being extremely noisy during flight, though clegs, for example, fly quietly and bite with little warning. 
Photo by Thomas Shahan
The genus Zophina is of uncertain placement, though it has been classified among the Pangoniinae. Two well-known genera are the common horse flies, genus Tabanus Linnaeus, 1758 and the deer flies, genus Chrysops Meigen, 1802 are also known as banded horse flies because of their coloring. Both genera give their names to subfamilies. The “Blue Tail Fly” in the eponymous song was probably a tabanid common to the southeastern United States.
Adult horse flies feed on nectar and sometimes pollen. Females of most species are anautogenous, meaning they require a blood meal before they are able to reproduce effectively, if at all. Much like male mosquitoes, male Tabanidae are not ectoparasitic and lack the mouth parts (mandibles) that the females use in drawing the blood on which they feed. Most female horse flies feed on mammalian blood, but some species are known to feed on birds or reptiles. Some are said to attack amphibians as well.
Larval horse flies are predators of small invertebrates in moist environments, such as in damp soil, under stones, in rotting logs, and the like.
www.mattcolephotography.co.uk
Horsefly bites are painful, the bites of large specimens especially so. Most short tongued (short proboscid) species of horse flies use their knife-like mandibles to rip and/or slice flesh apart. Flies with longer proboscides bite more like a mosquito, their stylet-like mouthparts piercing the host’s skin like needles.
The horse fly’s bite is more immediately painful than that of its mosquito counterparts, although it still aims to escape before its victim responds. Moreover, the pain of a horse fly bite may mean that the victim is more concerned with assessing the wound, and not swatting the interloper. In any case defense is difficult, considering the agile nature of the fly. However, inhabitants of regions where the flies are a pest usually learn to swat immediately at the first hint of the bite. That usually gets the fly, especially if its escape is hampered by its having bitten through clothing. The bites may become itchy, sometimes causing a large swelling afterward if not treated quickly.
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The Dyfi Osprey Project and the Scottish wildlife Trust have kindly given their permission for us to post still and video images from their webcams. To visit their sites please click on the relevant link. Loch of the Lowes. Dyfi Osprey Project.
