Western black horse fly
The western black horse fly is a big fly with a creamy white, hairy front body and an all-black back end. It lives in the hot south and west of the United States and in Mexico. The female needs a meal of blood before she can lay her eggs.
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Fun facts
Only the female bites, because she needs blood to make her eggs.
It lives from California to Texas and from Utah down into Mexico.
By biting different animals it can carry germs and tiny parasites from one to another.
Most asked questions about Western black horse fly
?Does the western black horse fly bite?
Yes, the female does. She bites horses, farm animals and sometimes people.
?How big is the western black horse fly?
About 2 centimetres long, much bigger than a house fly.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Tabanus punctifer
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Tabanidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Tabanidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Western horse fly
Where the facts come from
- Tabanus punctifer (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Darin J McGuire. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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