Fly Identification & Differences
The horn fly, Haematobia irritans
Implications are that total energy balance is altered when an animal is exposed to horn fly infestations, thereby resulting in decreased productivity.4
The economic threshold for horn fly infestation is defined as the number of horn flies per animal at which the value of the damage caused is equal to the cost of control.5
Horn flies are small biting flies about half the size of house and stable flies. They have piercing type mouthparts like the stable fly which they use to take up to 40 blood meals per day. They are grayish in color with two stripes on their thorax and are usually found congregating on the backs of cattle, only leaving to lay eggs in freshly deposited cow pats. Eggs are reddish-brown that hatch and feed in the manure pat and pupate underneath or in the surrounding soil around the pat. Pupae are brown and require 6 to 8 days to pupate depending on environmental conditions. [Back]
1 McNeal & Campbell (©1981)
2 John B. Campbell, The Economic Significance of the Stable Fly
3 http://www.csress.usda.gov/nea/biotech/pdf/highlights_2002_no3.pdf
4 Byford, R.L., Craig, M.E., Crosby, B.L., A Review of Ectoparasites and Their Effect on Cattle Production, J. Anim. Sci., 1992, 70:597-602.
5 Mwangala, F.S., Galloway, T.D., 1993, Susceptibility of horn flies, Haematobia irritans (L.) (Diptera: Muscidae) to pyrethroids in Manitoba, Can., Entomol. 125: 47-53.
Horn Fly