Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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 females bite land vertebrates, including humans, to obtain blood. They prefer to fly in sunlight, avoiding dark and shady areas, and are inactive at night.
Males of these horse flies feed on plant juices, while female are bloodsuckers, [7] feeding mainly on mammalian blood, as they require a blood meal before they are able to reproduce. They may be very annoying for cattle, but usually they do not bite people.
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.
It is notorious for its propensity to inflict painful bites on people, [4] having been described as the most aggressive fly species in Florida. [6] The female feeds on blood to develop eggs, and is most active in the summer and early autumn during daylight hours, especially in the late afternoon and on overcast days. Flies can even venture ...
The females of these flies are bloodsuckers, feeding on mammalian blood, mainly cattle and horses, but they can also bite humans. The males feed on nectar, especially on Angelica sylvestris. The activity of these horseflies takes place in plain daylight, preferably in hot and muggy days and in the absence of wind.
blood (Giemsa, haematoxylin, eosin stain) rain forest of West Africa – 12–13 million people Tabanidae – horsefly, bites in the day Mansonelliasis, filariasis: Mansonella streptocerca: subcutaneous layer of skin insect River blindness, onchocerciasis: Onchocerca volvulus: skin, eye, tissue bloodless skin snip
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.
Sandfly or sand fly is a colloquial name for any species or genus of flying, biting, blood-sucking dipteran (fly) encountered in sandy areas. In the United States, sandfly may refer to certain horse flies that are also known as "greenheads" (family Tabanidae), or to members of the family Ceratopogonidae. The bites usually result in a small ...