Common horse fly
The common horse fly, also known as the notch-horned cleg fly, or simply cleg in Scotland and northern parts of Ireland, is a fly species belonging to the family Tabanidae subfamily Tabaninae.
Distribution and habitat
This species is present in most of Europe, in the Near East, and in the eastern Palearctic realm. It mainly lies in heath and moorland, and in spruce forest edge.Description
Common horse flies can reach a length of, with a wingspan of 8–10 mm. This species has large compound eyes necessary for locating its prey. They are hairy and brightly colored, with stripes extended over most of the eye. In males, the eyes touch at the centre of the frons and the colored stripes are restricted to the lower part.The first antennal segment is quite bulbous and has a strong sub-apical notch in the female. The thorax is grey, with black longitudinal stripes. The abdomen shows a dark background with a series of lateral pale spots and clearer bands at the end of each black segment. Also the wings have a distinctive pattern, being dark mottled by several clear spots. The legs are black, with yellowish-brown rings.
This species is similar to the also common Haematopota crassicornis, but differs from that species in the orange third antennal segment, in the presence of the sub-apical notch and in the overall brown colouration compared to the often grey tinge of crassicornis.