Subject: Grasshopper fly mix
Geographic location of the bug: Enschede, The Netherlands
Date: 06/16/2019
Time: 08:00 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: What’s the name of this bug? It appears to have two small “fangs” and rainbow colored eye’s, it’s not shy nor aggressive, i could easily touch it. Thanks.
How you want your letter signed: Kevin Hoekstra
Dear Kevin,
Though we were confident that this is a female Horse Fly in the family Tabanidae, there were enough features to cause us to consider it might be a member of a different family, but we quickly located the Notch Horned Cleg, Haematopota pluvialis, on Influential Points where it states: “The female Haematopota pluvialis has distinctively patterned hairy eyes – the eye stripes extend over most of the eye.” The site also states: “There are of course innumerable accounts of Haematopota pluvialis biting man, especially in upland areas where clegs can turn a pleasant walk into an endurance course. Our own experience in the Scottish Highlands is that when the sun is out, the clegs bite; when the sun goes in the midges bite! Flight (and hence feeding) activity of Haematopota pluvialis is dependent on a sufficiently high humidity and temperature (Krčmar, 2004).”
Yes! That’s it, thank you! In Dutch it appears to be “Regendaas”.
Regards,
Kevin Hoekstra