Subject: Large Female Horse Fly
Geographic location of the bug: Campbell, Ohio
Date: 07/20/2022
Time: 9:15 PM EDT
Gentle Readers,
Daniel was walking out the front door when he heard a loud buzzing (sounded like a smoke detector) coming from the inside of the house. He was surprised to see the largest Horse Fly he has ever seen, about an inch long. He trapped it in a stemmed glass and took some photos before releasing her outside.
He believes based on the Buckeye Yard & Garden Online website and BugGuide that it is Tabanus abdominalis, a species with no common name. According to Joe Boggs on the former site hosted by Ohio State University extension: “All horse flies are aggressive and vicious biters, but the bigger ones are particularly menacing. Only the females bite; they require blood meals to be able to produce eggs. When she finds a host, the female uses her sharp, knife-like mouthparts to slash upon a wound in the skin; the mandibles of large horse flies are powerful enough to cut through tanned leather! After opening a wound, the female injects saliva that has anticoagulation properties and she then laps up the free flowing blood. The bite is extremely painful, and blood continues to flow from the wound even after the female finishes feeding.”
There are several similar looking species and we would not rule out that this might be a wider ranging Tabanus sulcifrons also pictured on BugGuide.