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March Fly

Tabanidae sp

Photo by Christiane
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

Sadly march flies are found throughout Australia.
Only the female march flies bite as they need blood to produce the next generation. They use their strong, piercing mouth parts like a needle to extract blood from their mammal hosts. The males have larger metallic green eyes and feed on nectar.

Habitat:

March flies live around freshwater creeks, inter tidal estuaries and mangroves.

Reference Links:

Horse flies (family Tabanidae) - Queensland Museum

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (1)
Mark Ridgway
Aussie march flies are horse flies elsewhere. The pain is the same however. :)
Photographed
PublishedFebruary 22, 2016

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