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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » Orthorrhapha » Tabanomorpha » Horse and Deer Flies (Tabanidae) » Horse Flies (Tabaninae) » Tabanini » Tabanus » Black Horse Fly (Tabanus atratus)
Photo#235638
Large Black Fly - Tabanus atratus
Copyright © 2008 Will Rountree

Large Black Fly - Tabanus atratus
Needville , Brazoria County, Texas, USA
October 23, 2008
Size: > 1 inch
This was on the trunk of a Hackberry tree, I thought it was a moth it was so large. It may be as much as an inch and a half in length. The tree is located on the edge of a levee trail going around 40 Acre lake, so is a very marshy area at Brazos Bend State Park.
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Contributed by Will Rountree on 23 October, 2008 - 3:16pm
Last updated 10 December, 2009 - 9:50pm

Moved
Moved from Horse Flies.
… Keith Bayless, 10 December, 2009 - 9:50pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Flies.
… Joel Kits, 7 November, 2008 - 8:09pm login or register to post comments

Agree with Will...
This female black horse fly is a major league blood feeder. I have seen a biting horse fly that was about twice this size in a collection in Costa Rica - it was so large (2.5" body length), I thought at first it must be a fake - but it wasn't.

See reference here:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/17584
… Ross Hill, 28 October, 2008 - 10:50pm login or register to post comments

yes
probably Tabanus atratus.
… Will Chatfield-Taylor, 23 October, 2008 - 10:12pm login or register to post comments

Tabanidae?
a horsefly by the looks of it...hope it didn't bite!
… Tim Loh, 23 October, 2008 - 3:24pm login or register to post comments

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