Bull fly: description, features and environment

For many rural residents horseflies are the real trouble. Remember, even Pushkin lamented in his novel in verse that flies and mosquitoes prevents you from enjoying summer red. Perhaps the great poet had not yet met bullish horsefly, and then used him in verse was given a special place. Maybe Alexander just included him in the category of flies. Because both of them belong to the same group - Diptera.

Horse Flies – large flies-bloodsuckers

A representative of midges annoying warm-blooded animals by their bites. But a horsefly is bullish in this ranking among the first. Very painfully, he bites, cutting the body with their stilettos, placed near the mouth. But still lets in the wound a substance that the blood no longer minimized. Because of this, the bite becomes inflamed, itchy. Maybe even in an animal or human from this fever and feel worse. If multiple bites were registered in people of high intoxication, which had to be treated in hospital.

The insect Is so called – bovine horsefly. And in fact, he did not shrink from anyone. Cows and horses that are on a leash, if they are attacked by numerous flies, broken and run away from these places. It also happens that an animal, tormented by stinging insects, rushes in the impenetrable thicket, to the branches of trees and shrubs to save them from agony, go into the water and wading in marshes.

Well, if they return to the place of his detention. But often the beast, disoriented from the pain, can get lost and not find way back, caught the rope tied to the bushes or the trunks of trees to die without water and drink. And Yes, swamps are not always released the victim.

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If the rump is more or less can bring down painful stinging insect the tail, feet, horns, the head and muzzle to shake them off is almost impossible. The caring owners even dress their Pets especially made sweatshirts that bull flies cannot penetrate. Some even manage to produce and put on the feet of cattle stocking to protect the poor animal from this scourge.

Not just a bit – a disease had infected!

Bull-flies – the insect is extremely harmful. Except for the fact that this bloodsucker plagued the cattle with their bites, it is a distributor of various diseases. This tularemia, and anthrax, and filariasis, and trypanosomiasis, and polio.

Fly bycie not scruple to taste the blood of corpses three days ago. And it's even worse than the transfer of infection from one living thing to another. After all, if the animal fell as a result of the deadly disease, there is no guarantee that the insect will not catch it a person or domestic animal.

Scientific classification

This bug Applies to the type of Arthropods. Horsefly bullish – a kind of Diptera insects. A suborder of the insect – Short -. Its scientific name Tabanus bovinus. It is a family of flies. Female mosquitoes are the components.

Archaeologists find the remains of ancestors of modern flies. Estimated time of twenty – the Oligocene.

Appearance

Bullish gadfly is a large fly. It reaches a size of 2.4 cm. This is the largest insect among the Diptera.

The Body of the insect is painted in dark brown with blackish stripes. Breast covered with yellow and black hairs. Itself in the abdomen of the fly flat and consists of segments. In the middle of each tergite a gray-yellow or white elongated triangle with concave sides. Along the side edges of the abdomen is yellow-red stripe.

The Wings of bovine horsefly brown, transparent. Behind two well-developed wings are two halters.

The Eyes of the insect are large, with multicolored iridescent stains. Females have between them is a visible dividing line. Horsefly bullish male differs from it in that he migratie almost unnoticed, so it is small.

External differences between individuals of different sexes is called sexual dimorphism. The flies it is expressed in the fact that the abdomen of the male on the end pointed, and in females it is rounded.

The Spread of bovine horsefly

This is one of the most tenacious creatures on Earth. Bull fly – an insect that lives in almost all parts of Eurasia and even in Africa – in the North-West of the continent. It can be found even in the mountains, 2 km above sea level. No flies, only perhaps in areas of permafrost Yes, absolutely devoid of vegetation desert.

And it happens because the fly is bullish, the habitat of which is the edge of the forest, pastures, shores of water bodies, is able to produce in one season a progeny in large numbers.

Reproduction of the flies is bullish

The Female lays at a time to thousands of elongated grayish eggs, attaching them to leaves of plants. The insect prefers to do it near water. Hatched, the larvae burrow in moist soil. There they lead a predatory way of life. After a while the larvae pupate. During this period they are verysimilar to the pupae of butterflies.

Before the important process of laying eggs the female needs to eat well with blood of animals, birds or people. In some cases, when there are no warm-blooded mammal, insect attacks even on lizards. As these reptiles are cold-blooded reptiles.

This fact once again confirms the view that the bullish slanem called this blood-sucking midges in vain. He, or rather she does not adhere to a clearly limited scope, when the question concerns whom it should attack, to feed.

Why in the previous phrase was used the specification based on sex? Yes, because a gadfly bullish the male feeds on nectar and sugary secretions of plants and aphids. For this reason, blood-sucking it is not. Yes, and the female until fertilization is also not in need of blood.

After three or four days after laying the female may repeat the procedure of bloodsucking. After this she was again able to lay a batch of eggs. This process can be repeated up to five times per season. As a result, the female fly will lay up to 3500 eggs!

Importance in nature

Many people, especially rural residents, of which pestering those evil biting flies and harmful to the livestock, the question arises: why does not lime bovine horsefly? But, it turns out, this is absolutely impossible. After all, this insect, like all others, is a component of natural communities. Erasing it from the face of the Earth can destroy that balance. It will answer the negative manifestation.

In fact, horse flies serve as food dozens of animal groups: birds, fish, reptiles. No wonder many fishermen use as bait this insect. And quite successfully, by the way.

The dead insects fall to the ground, fertilize it, which is also one of the causes of keystodelete our soils.

Another question: how to reduce the harm caused by these bloodsucking insects? As it turned out, flies can not stand the smell of wormwood. It is therefore recommended on door jambs and window frames in the period of maximum activity of these insects (June-July) to hang bunches of this fragrant herb. There is hardly a gadfly who dared to overcome this obstacle.

On the farmyard to reduce the number of bloodsuckers, have special reservoirs for them, pouring a little bit of oil or kerosene. Insects trying to get drunk during the flight, are unable to fly and fall in the lake are dying.

People who are forced at noon to do chores in the garden or in the yard to graze animals on the pastures or to perform work in the field, used as a protection from the bites of chemical repellents. Also helps them clothing made of dense fabric. The face protect hat with mesh, typically used by beekeepers.

Interesting facts related to the lifestyle of bovine horsefly

The Adult insects of this species do not feed. Adults most of the time are in flight, focusing on the vision.

Female flies respond to large objects that move. That is why they often choose as their victims cars or boats and begin to pursue them. The speed of a moving object can reach 40 kilometers per hour. And horse flies will chase the boat sailed from the coast for several hundred kilometers!

The Experiments proved that flies do not attack at striped objects. Apparently, this is due to the structure of their visual organs. Especially confuses them is such a fact as not parallel stripes. Zebras, which have this color, does not suffer from the attacks of flies.