Detailed description and photo gadflies

In May begins years of insects that do not give life to livestock on the pastures. It comes from flying parasites and humans. The largest flying bloodsuckers are different types of gadflies. All short-lived Diptera insects are united under the common name "fly". Blind is large flies, whose females need to drink blood for reproduction. They bite them painfully, which often leads to a stampede of livestock from the meadows into the woods or home for shelter.

Habitats

In total, the family of horseflies has a little less than 4.5 million species. These insects are spread all over the planet. Bullfly caught even at an altitude of 2 km above sea level. They are absent only on remote islands and in Antarctica. In the territory of the CIS gadflies, there are 200 species.

Prefer insects places with high humidity. Blind flies, the larvae of which develop in the aquatic environment. Part of the larvae - predators that feed on small inhabitants of the reservoir. Others eat rotting parts of plants. For this reason, insect accumulations are usually observed near water bodies. In the same area can meet up to 20 species of gadflies.

On a note!

All of them are an important part of the ecosystem. Waterfly grub larvae contribute to soil enrichment. Adult gadfishes eat a significant number of birds and animals.

Insect gadfly

Breeding features

Insects have 4 phases of development. For a man, only two are important: the larva and the adult individual - imago.Eggs and pupae cannot harm anyone. Larvae are dangerous only for other inhabitants of the reservoir. Adult females pose the greatest threat to mammals.

Gadflies have a division according to the type of food:

• males drink only flower nectar;
• unfertilized female also eats nectar;
• after fertilization, for the successful maturation of eggs, imago requires the blood of mammals.

At one time, the female deerfruit is able to drink up to 0.2 ml of blood: the rate for 70 mosquitoes. To extract blood, it attacks any living thing, including lizards. Do not hesitate and fresh corpses.

On a note!

Gadfly is called so not because he has poor eyesight, but because of the behavior during blood sucking. It is as if he is blind at this moment, and it is easy to catch him.

Breeding gadfly

3-4 days after the meal, the female lays from 500 to 1000 eggs at a time. During the summer, one individual can perform up to 6 cycles of "fertilization - feeding - laying eggs."

The term, how many livestock lives in adulthood is limited to the summer months (May - August). The previous three stages take 2-4 years.

Than dangerous

Bite paincaused by feeding females will seem nonsense compared with the possible consequences. Mouth apparatus of adults piercing-cutting type. In order to calmly drink of blood, when the bite blindfold injects an anticoagulant into the blood. If a person is allergic to insect saliva, it can be anaphylactic shock.

If you remember what blindfruits eat, then you will not be surprised that they are carriers of diseases extremely dangerous to humans: tularemia, anthrax, trypanosomiasis, filariasis.

What is the difference between paut and horseflies?

Whether pauta and gadfly are different species, or are these two names of the same insect, depends on the region of residence. In the European part of Russia, in the regions located from the Volga to the Urals, a paut is a gadfly. In Siberia and the Far East, any two-winged blood-sucking insect parasitizing on cattle is called a net. There they call pautami as gadflies and gadflies. Sometimes a pauta is called a moose fly.

Species

According to the way of feeding adults, the blindfolds do not differ from each other. The difference lies in the size, color, habitats and environment in which the larvae develop.But gadflies have common signs, therefore in the most general terms it is possible to describe how horsefly looks like:

• large head;
• eyes large faceted + 2-3 simple eyes on the crown;
• short three-segmented mustache;
• the oral apparatus may be sharp and sharp;
• number of wings: two;
• the abdomen is massive, flattened from above, the color of the abdomen depends on the type of insect;
• the size of horsefly is 9-30 mm.

Varieties of gadflies

The most common are bullfly, gold-eyed and rain. These groups include several species, differing in size depending on the habitat.

Bullfly

Body length 10-24 mm. The color of the back is brown. Yellow bristles on breast. In the middle of the abdomen are bright triangular spots. Wings with a brown tint. Distributed throughout Russia.

Gray big horsefly

The length is 16-23 mm. The color is dark gray. Bright triangles on the abdomen. Relatively thermophilic. Habitat in latitude not higher than Western Siberia.

Midday horsefly

Medium size. Body length 13-16.5 mm. Females have several coloring options. The most common: dark gray with clearly defined white triangles along the dorsal median line (bisignata form).The second option: on the abdominal cavity there are side reddish spots that reach the third segment (collini form). The third option: lateral reddish spots on the abdominal cavity end on the second segment (form bimaculata). Between these options are many transitional forms.

The main features:

• orange color of the upper parts of the legs;
• on the front and back surfaces of the middle segments of the paws, unusually long villi.

Lives throughout Eurasia in a wooded area. Especially likes forest swamps.

Deer gadfly

Body length 17-21 mm. Color dark brown with lighter stripes on the upper abdomen. It lives in taiga regions, terrorizing the herds of reindeer. Flies in the composition of the swarm. In the tundra and the city does not fly. Along with the bull is the second name is "huge."

Common Pestle

Common spotting and sprinkling

The most brightly colored representative of the family. And the most common in central Russia. Pestrius bite is very painful. The length is 9-15 mm. Eyes green, faceted. The chest and back are black with light brown fibers. There are light spots on the lower abdomen. Wings of black and brown mosaic coloring.The peculiarity of the spotty is that it is difficult to chase him away if he has begun to feed. Below is an insect gadfly on the photo.

Rain coat

The size is average, length is 8-12 mm. Body color and wings brown-gray or olive-gray. On the wings of a characteristic figure. The greatest activity before the rain or in cloudy weather. The development of the larvae occurs in a moist land. It prefers deciduous and coniferous-deciduous forests. It is distributed almost throughout Eurasia to the south of the taiga belt.

On a note!

Giant horsefly as a species does not exist. Depending on the terrain, so called bull or deerfly.

Methods of struggle

Since horseflies breed in reservoirs with a weak current, houses near the lake suffer from their invasion. Farms are also usually located near ponds, and livestock suffer greatly from bloodsuckers. Therefore, in many ways from them trying to get rid.

On a note!

Insects do not fly further than 1.5 km, and this fact is taken into account by the veterinary services during quarantine in the village.

If there are no reservoirs within a radius of one and a half kilometers, the number of blood suckers will be significantly lower than near the lake.

Like all flies, horseflies prefer to land on dark surfaces. Their second habit is to fly up vertically. Knowing these habits, you can make homemade on the site trap and significantly reduce the livestock of this species of midges within its territory.

In places where they live blind, it is necessary to use insect repellents, or clothing made of thick fabric. With the observance of simple security measures, horse flies do not cause people major problems. Cattle during the summer of insects need to be grazed early in the morning and in the evening, when the activity of these large flies is reduced.