By the time they are adult’s horse-flies range in size from 25-30 mm long in length. Larger types of horse flies, the mourning horsefly and the black can grow as big as 1 inch long. The body and the wings of the fly are colored brownish gray. They can be as small as a house fly and as big as a bee.

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The female horse-flies have compound eyes. Horse-flies are attracted to large and dark objects. Horse flies are important pollinators for flowers, mostly in South Africa. Horse flies are most active in the hot weather, during the summer, and autumn during the day time. They also like a wet environment to breed in. The female horse flies lay their eggs on sheltered vegetation over moist soil. The larvae hatch and then drop down into the mud, wet soil and sometimes in water where they feed on other smaller organisms until pupation. It takes 1 to 3 years for the eggs to hatch into a pupal stage and then 5 to 20 days to become an adult fly.

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There are about 3,000 species of horse flies known all over the world. There 350 which are found in North America. There are at least three different subfamilies of horse-flies. They are called: Chrysopsinae, Pangoniinae and Tabaninae. There is also a genus called Zophina that is part of the Pangoniinae. Adult horse flies feed on pollen, and nectar. Females feed mostly on mammals; other species of female horseflies feed on birds, amphibians, and reptiles. Females need to feed on blood in order to be able to reproduce. Male horseflies cannot feed on blood because they do not have the right parts in their mouths.

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The predators that eat the horse fly are the Horse Guard. The Hose Guard is a kind of Sand wasp. Birds can also be predators that eat horse-flies. I learned that female horse-flies eat blood and that they do this so they can breed. Horse-flies also have eyes that are different from other flies because they have eyes that are rainbow colored. The bites of the horse-flies are very painful. They use a needle in their mouth that pokes you and then it sucks your blood. I really liked learning about horse-flies because they are different from the flies that I am used to seeing.

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Author: Nichelle S

Published: 03/2008

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Sources: Horse-fly-wikipedia the fre enciclopedia. Retrieved 02/21/2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse-fly Horsefly. Retrieved 02/21/2008, from http:www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1 horsefly.html Tabanus bovinus. Retrieved 01/18/2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabanus_bovinus

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Photo Credit: Picture taken by nulb0ard 22.06.2006 at Vääksy, Finland http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Tabanus_bovinus.jpg