What kind of species (looks like a giant black fly) is about an inch long?
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Pandora (
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July 7th, 2013
This is the second time I’ve seen a black fly in my yard. I first thought it must be some moth like insect but it landed near me and was gigantic. The whole body structure looks like a black fly. It was about an inch long and half an inch wide. It is not a horse fly or deer fly. Body and wings are pitch black.
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8 Answers
Is it a bottle fly? Bottle flies seem huge. They’re only seen around dead bodies,whether rat, deer, human, or other mammal.
There are more than 16,000 species of flies in North America, so we’re gonna need some more specifics.
How did you determine that it wasn’t a horse or deer fly? (You might want to try the BugGuide site.)
@syz Thanks for the link. It looked exactly like the second picture. I have seen horse flies before but they were never that large or pitch black. The eyes look weird too. It looks like a helmet. Nasty thing. So I guess it was a horse fly. Just never seen one that big either. Poor horses. Someone should douse them with deets. Those bites have to hurt as much as being stung by a bee.
I once got a bunch of bites from some large mosquitos along the beach that actually had you bleeding as they bit and it stung too. I thought it was the tall grass as I climbed over a dune. My legs were dripping with blood. Those guys are large too but this fly would look like the Hulk next to them.
@zenvelo @ARE_you_kidding_me @talljasperman , Thanks for trying but it turns out it was a horse fly. I had googled it myself but all I kept seeing was pictures of the horse flies I have seen before. Didn’t know they can look like a huge house fly.
@Pandora I was thinking horse fly from the description as well. Let one bite you and you’ll KNOW they are nasty things.
Could be a beetle, horse fly, cicada or a black wasp. Link us a pic will ya!
Check out the carpenter bee; it is large, black and deceptively scary, but it doesn’t (for the most part) sting.
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