giant black fly
August 15, 2009
I found this huge fly in a wooded area by my work which is in Ajax, Ontario (just east of Toronto). It was well over an inch long, as you can see in the photo. I managed to take a picture, but the camera at my work was not the greatest, so the quality isn’t the best, but you can clearly see just how big this fly actually is.
any way is fine
Ajax, Ontario
Black Horse Fly
Dear any way is fine,
This is a Black Horse Fly, Tabanus atratus. Females of the species suck mammalian blood, but the males, like the one in your photo, are harmless.
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Posted 17 August 2009
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Albino Fly?
August 16, 2009
This bug was filmed in keystone heights florida. What is it? It looks like a fly, but not. I did save it after it died and still have it.
I couldn’t get a decent photo of it, but here is a movie
http://hartmanndesign.net/whitebug.mov
Clair
Northern Florida
Horse Fly: Chlorotabanus crepuscularis
Hi Clair,
This is Chlorotabanus crepuscularis, a species of Horse Fly. According to BugGuide: “Identification Body pale green, eyes and thorax yellowish green. The only green tabanid in NA. Range An eastern species occurring south of a line from Delaware to southern Texas. Habitat Larvae predaceous, usually in soil at edge of water and in floating vegetation, occasionally in forest soil. Adults in vicinity of larval habitats Season In Florida, flying from mid-March to mid-September with peak activity from May to mid-July. Food Females feed on mammalian blood Remarks As with all the blood-feeding tabanids, the females are responsive to Carbon Dioxide. I caught over 500 females in one night with a trap baited with dry ice in coastal South Carolina. Will also come to lights at night.
Regarded as a pest species in Florida“
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Posted 16 August 2009
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horse fly from Patagonia, in Argentina and Chile
Sat, Jan 3, 2009 at 1:09 PM
Hi!
I´m sending a couple of pictures of a real nightmare in the forest of Patagonia during summer´s days. Its scientific name is Scaptia lata and the females are longer than one inch.
Local names are tabano negro or colihuacho
I must confess your site has been addictive to me since I discovered it and sent you my first message asking about a tiger? moth almost one year ago.
Happy New Year and many new bugs for you!
Mirta in San Antonio Oeste, Rio Negro. Argentina
Patagonian forests in Argentina and Chile
Horse Fly from Patagonia
Hi Mirta,
Thanks for sending us these beautiful images of a gorgeous, but blood thirsty Horse Fly. Thank you also for including both the scientific name and local names. We don’t get many submissions from Argentina or Chile. Thanks also for your kind words regarding our humble site. That is a brave individual handling this female Horse Fly. Male Horse Flies do not bite, but the females will readily bite warm blooded creatures including humans.
Horse Fly from Patagonia
Hi Daniel!
Thanks for your message
The brave one is me… but I need to tell you that the horse fly was a little dizzy after I punched it with my hand… So I took the picture while giving her time to recover and start flying again. Their bites are really painful, and it is impossible not try knocking them when you are hiding quietly to photography an elusive bird and you are pursued by almost 10 of them! Hope you don´t think it was an unnecesary carnage… 
I´d wish more websites like yours plenty of southamerican bugs. As you know, it is difficult to find places online to ID our bugs. I will try to submit more when the pictures or the bug deserve it, if it is OK to you.
Hugs
Mirta
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Posted 03 January 2009
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Fly I Have Never Seen Before
Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 5:20 AM
Bugman, I resent the pictures I originally sent yesterday. Hopefully they are larger. Hi Bugman, I was sitting on my front porch this summer (June maybe) and this little one flew onto the banister and did not move even when I went to touch it. I have never seen a fly like this before or since. I live in Illinois. Love your site.
Fly Curious
Homer Glen, Illinois
Striped Horse Fly
Dear Fly Curious,
First, thanks for sending the larger photographs. The original tiny files were not very good for exact identification. This is a male (we believe) Striped Horse Fly, Tabanus lineola. According to BugGuide you can distinguish between the sexes this way: “Females: pale median stripe on abdomen bordered by dark submedian stripes; eyes with 3 green bands; scutellum concolorous with thorax
Males: body pattern similar to females; eyes bare (no hairs) with large upper facets sharply differentiated from smaller lower facets; costal cell of wing clear; prescutal lobe paler than rest of thorax; palps white ”
Striped Horse Fly
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Posted 14 October 2008
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