MrVaselineGlass posted this in another forum, but it should go here. Does anyone know what these are? I spotted one just now on the house here in South Texas and I was intrigued: this thing looks like a war machine. It's a 2" large black fly with an odd head designed to swivel, and a giant beaklike mouth. I went to take a picture and it flew right at me and then took off, so I can only contribute MrVaselineGlass's picture again:
This is a very large female horse fly (Diptera: Tabanidae) in the genus Tabanus; likely the black horse fly, Tabanus atratus - see http://www.carolinanature.com/insects/diptera/horsefly7175.jpg. In North America, only the species Tabanus americanus is larger.
Thank you! I don't want to see the Tabanus americanus. This thing was big enough.
