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Horse Flies
Name: Horse Flies
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Suborder: Brachycera
Infraorder: Tabanomorpha
Superfamily: Tabanoidea
Family: Tabanidae
Habitat:
In Canada, horse flies are most numerous in areas containing ponds, marshes, streams or bogs, and come out only during the day from June to August when the weather is warm. You may encounter horse flies hovering on hilltops, in sunlit clearings, or along forest paths.
Food:
Horse flies are more interested in biting animals than biting people. They prefer to feed on animals such as caribou, moose and cattle.
Method of Travel:
Flying
Prevention:
- Humans: Light coloured clothing and protective mesh outdoor wear may be of some value in reducing annoyance from biting flies.
- Animals: Horse flies usually will not enter barns or deep shade. If animals have access to protection during the day, they can escape the constant attack of these annoying pests.
Steps to control:
- It is difficult to impossible to locate and/or eliminate breeding sites of horse flies as they breed in environmentally sensitive wetlands.
- Good, long lasting, low-toxic methods of insect control can be done with Knock Down X-Max Flying & Crawling Insect Killer or other Knock Down products listed below.