Abstract
The Tabanidae form a large family of about 4000 described species found throughout the world. Although they are generally called horse-flies, several other vernacular names are used, including gadflies, stouts, elephant-flies, buffalo-flies, mooseflies, clegs (genus Haematopota), deer-flies (genus Chrysops) and greenheads (for Nearctic species of salt-marsh Tabanus). Many species bite man, but few are proven vectors of human disease and the only parasite cyclically transmitted among humans by tabanids is the filarial worm Loa loa carried by Chrysops. As mechanical vectors of pathogens, the flies are primarily of veterinary importance, but in certain circumstances they can apparently transmit to man diseases such as anthrax, tularaemia and (possibly) Lyme disease.
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Chainey, J.E. (1993). Horse-flies, deer-flies and clegs (Tabanidae). In: Lane, R.P., Crosskey, R.W. (eds) Medical Insects and Arachnids. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1554-4_8
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