Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Subfamily Tabaninae - Horse Flies

Hybomitra microcephala - female BG1752 E2181 - Tabanus sulcifrons - female Western Horse Fly - Tabanus punctifer - male Tabanidae - Tabanus greenhead? - Tabanus - female Horsefly - Hybomitra nuda - female Blue-eyed Horsefly - Tabanus americanus Horsefly - Tabanus melanocerus - male
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon (Orthorrhapha)
Infraorder Tabanomorpha
Family Tabanidae (Horse and Deer Flies)
Subfamily Tabaninae (Horse Flies)
Numbers
>200 spp. in 14 genera of 3 tribes in our area(1)
Identification
separated from the other subfamilies by lack of apical metatibial spurs.
Five images from different angles will allow for identification of any NA tabanid; must have images 1-4; #5 very desirable but not always possible.
Print References
(2)(3)(4)(5)
Works Cited
1.Manual of Nearctic Diptera Volume 1
Varies for each chapter; edited by J.F. McAlpine, B.V. Petersen, G.E. Shewell, H.J. Teskey, J.R. Vockeroth, D.M. Wood. 1981. Research Branch Agriculture Canada.
2.The horse flies and deer flies of Canada and Alaska (Diptera: Tabanidae)
Teskey H.J. 1990. The insects and arachnids of Canada, Pt. 16. Ottawa: Agriculture Canada. 381 pp.
3.The horseflies of the subfamily Tabaninae of the Nearctic Region
Stone A. 1938. USDA Misc. Publ. 305. 171 pp.
4.Tabanidae of Canada, east of the Rocky Mountains 2: a photographic key to the genera and species of Tabaninae...
Thomas A.W. 2011. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification No.13.
5.The horse flies and deer flies of Idaho, Oregon and Washington state (Diptera: Tabanidae)
Thomas A.W., Leblanc L., Turner W.J. 2022. Fly Times Supplement 4.