Do I Look Like A Horse?

This is a post about a Horse Fly. Family Tabanidae, genus Haematopota, commonly known as Clegs. I haven’t got it down to species yet but I will.

Then I will find out where she lives and I will go round and beat her dad up for failing to bring her up properly. It is a she, just as with Mosquitoes it is only the females that drink blood, they need the protein to reproduce.

Now I am very tolerant of Mosquitoes but the real big difference is that they don’t hurt.

This little beauty has knife like mandibles (mouth parts) that she uses to rip and slice flesh apart to get to the blood. The pain is pretty immediate unlike a Mosquito who relies on stealth and a painless bite.

She has been having a go at me for a couple of weeks now and I have been really keen to get a photograph so that I can find out a little bit more about her. The trouble has been my instinctive reaction to pain. She really is a little bleeder with the Devil’s horns.

Clegs are only little Horse Flies, they come a lot bigger than this and more painful too. I am glad I am not a Horse.

I will make a nice video of her slicing mouth parts just as soon as I find someone willing to stand still while I film the action. 🙂

Pretty little thing isn’t she?