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Tabanus nigrovittatus
Species of insect From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Tabanus nigrovittatus, also known as the greenhead horse fly, salt marsh greenhead, or simply the greenhead fly, greenhead or greenfly,[7][8] is a species of horse-fly commonly found around the coastal marshes and wetlands of the Eastern United States. They are smaller than most horsefly species, instead being close in size to a common housefly. The biting females are a considerable pest to both humans and animals while they seek a source of blood protein to produce additional eggs:[9] greenhead larvae develop in the mud of salt marshes, and adult flies mate and lay their first group of eggs in the marsh, but to lay more eggs a female fly needs to drink an animal's blood, and so female greenheads which have laid eggs fly inland to look for prey in the area bordering the marsh; they can stay on land looking for animals to bite for up to four weeks.[9] Their bites itch, like those of mosquitoes, but are more painful, since greenheads feed by cutting a wound in the skin with scissor-like mouth parts and sucking the blood released through it.[10][11] Females live for three to four weeks and may lay about 100 to 200 eggs per blood meal.[12] The eggs are laid on the grass in a salt marsh; the larvae live in the intertidal mud of the salt marsh for one or two years, preying on other invertebrates, before pupating in early spring.[9][13] The adult flies emerge in late spring and are most common from late June to August.[9][13][11]
Greenheads are large enough that their population cannot be controlled with insecticide without damaging the ecosystem.[9] Affected coastal communities install black box traps in marsh areas to reduce and control T. nigrovittatus populations.[10][14]
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