Tabanus – March Fly

Alice Springs Fauna •

Alice Springs DipteraGreen Blowfly Bee Flies Anthrax sp (Bee Fly) Australiphthiria sp (Bee Fly) Balaana abscondita Ligyra cingulata Neosardus sp Golden Native Drone Fly (Eristalinus punctulatus) Microtropesa sp (Tachinid Fly) Mydas Fly, Miltinus sp Parapsilocephala Robber Fly, Bathypogon sp Rutilia sp Soldier Flies (Odontomyia) Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Odontomyia decipiens Opaluma (Australian Soldier Fly) Stiletto Fly (Agapophytus yeatesi) Tabanus – March Fly Yellow-shouldered Hover Fly (Ischiodon scutellaris)

From the order Diptera, this March Fly, belongs to the genus Tabanus, family Tabanidae. This genus is a group of “biting horseflies”, however it is the female member that bite, the male Tabanus flies do not bite. Whilst the female bite to feed on blood protein needed for egg development, the male Tabanus flies feed on the nectar and sap of plants (the males lack the mouth parts to bite).

This genus of horseflies are known to be the potential vectors of anthrax, worms and trypanosomes. Trypanosoma is a genus of kinetoplastids, a monophyletic group of unicellular parasitic flagellate protozoa. The Trypanosomes can infect a variety of hosts and are known to cause various diseases, including “sleeping sickness” (a fatal human diseases).

Male March-fly (genus Tabanus, family Tabanidae), Alice Springs NT — Male March-fly (genus *Tabanus*, family *Tabanidae*), Alice Springs NT

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Informal: Pterygotes
Order: Diptera
Suborder: Brachycera
Informal: Orthorrhapha
Superfamily: Tabanoidea
Family: Tabanidae
Subfamily: Tabaninae
Genus: Tabanus
Species:
(Atlas of Living Australia has listed 24 species at time of writing 19 Oct 2025)

Footnote & References

Many thanks to Michael Jefferies for the ID, member of Entomology Australia “Invertebratology”, https://www.facebook.com/groups/507004496955277
Tabanus Linnaeus, 1758, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/Tabanus

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