Tabanidae 2

Unknown.

Unknown.

This fly was approximately 12 millimetres long.

This is a male March fly in the Tabanidae family, of which there are 243 species.

March flies, or horse flies, fly during the day and prefer to avoid shaded areas. Adult March flies feed mainly on nectar but females also require a blood meal to reproduce. They are not generally fussy where the blood comes from, be it from a horse, cow, lizard or a human. Eggs are laid near water and the carnivorous larvae develop in the water or in the nearby moist soil.

This fly was photographed in September.

Identification courtesy of David Knowles.

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse-fly

Insects of Australia. Paul Zborowski and Ross Storey. 2003

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