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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » Orthorrhapha » Tabanomorpha » Horse and Deer Flies (Tabanidae) » Horse Flies (Tabaninae) » Diachlorini » Stenotabanus » Stenotabanus guttatulus
Photo#1392351
Flies on beak of young Great Horned Owl, Arizona. - Stenotabanus guttatulus
Copyright © 2017 Pierre Deviche

Flies on beak of young Great Horned Owl, Arizona. - Stenotabanus guttatulus
Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona, USA
June 25, 2017
Can someone identify (apparently) blood-sucking flies on the bill/nares of this young Great Horned Owl? Are these flies bird-specific? Thanks.

Images of this individual: tag all
Flies on beak of young Great Horned Owl, Arizona. - Stenotabanus guttatulus Flies on beak of young Great Horned Owl - Stenotabanus guttatulus
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Contributed by Pierre Deviche on 26 June, 2017 - 5:36pm
Last updated 9 September, 2021 - 1:30pm

Moved
Moved from Stenotabanus.
… A.W. Thomas, 9 September, 2021 - 1:30pm login or register to post comments

This seems to be it! One of t
This seems to be it! One of the western Stenotabanus, that belongs to the nominate subgenus, which differs from the other Stenotabanus on the Guide by the not uniformly whitish color. This, this is Stenotabanus guttatulus. The description fits perfectly with Burger's (1974) Horse Flies of Arizona. It also explains why the pattern is most unusual among any Tabanus or Hybomitra I was aware of.

"Abdomen grayish dorsally; terga 2-4 with brown bands basally, that of tergum 2 emarginate medianly, remainder grayish, terga 2-5 with transverse row of 4 brown, rounded spots".

This is a montane species, at least mostly...was this found in the mountains? No known host specificity for any bird appears to mentioned for this species.
… Arturo Santos, 2 November, 2019 - 1:20am login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Horse and Deer Flies.
… Arturo Santos, 2 November, 2019 - 1:14am login or register to post comments

Not Silvius, the eye color, b
Not Silvius, the eye color, body and wing shapes don't seem to match, but these are extraordinary horse flies. I am unaware of anything with a pattern like this.
… Arturo Santos, 17 August, 2019 - 9:47pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from ID Request.
… Bob Biagi, 27 June, 2017 - 1:21pm login or register to post comments

Deer Flies (probably females) & a mite
Did you get any better shots of the wings? This might be something close to ♀ Silvius abdominalis, but I'm not sure.
… Bob Biagi, 27 June, 2017 - 8:25am login or register to post comments

 
Owl Flies
Alas, Bob, these are the best and only shots. In fact I noticed the flies only by chance, when studying the pictures on the computer. Thank you for the assistance and any additional insight that you may have.
… Pierre Deviche, 27 June, 2017 - 11:05am login or register to post comments

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