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

Subfamily Tabaninae - Horse Flies

Horse Fly - Atylotus calcar Tabanidae - Tabanus Tabanidae - Tabanus sequax 9032810 tabanid - Hybomitra illota - female Horse Fly  478 - Tabanus proximus - female Fly - Tabanus Horse Fly (male) in South San Jose, CA - Tabanus punctifer - male Tabanus? - Hybomitra enigmatica
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.