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Tuesday 28 July 2015

Horse-fly

Female horseflies need to drink blood before they can reproduce.

The males are vegetarian, but females regularly attack humans, horses and other mammals to feast on blood, often transmitting diseases.

Female horseflies are equipped with powerful jaws that tear and cut. Viewed under a microscope, the mouthparts look like jagged saw blades.

Female horseflies have one of the most painful bites of any insect because they actually rip a hole in the skin to soak up the blood that comes out.

Left uncontrolled, 20-30 horseflies can drain almost a third of a pint of blood from their victims in as little as six hours.

They can grow to 1.25in long (3.2cm) and are among the world's largest flies.

Horseflies prefer to fly in sunlight, avoiding dark and shady areas, and are inactive at night.

Source Daily Mail

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