Devoted Horse Fly

Tabanus calens · Order: Diptera · Family: Tabanidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Devoted Horse Fly
Photo: Judy Gallagher, CC BY

It lives across Canada and the United States.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

It belongs to the horse-fly family Tabanidae.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It is found throughout Canada and the United States.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its range includes Canada and the United States.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 29 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Maryland, Missouri, Michigan, Virginia, Kentucky.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Devoted Horse Fly photo 3
Photo: Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY
Devoted Horse Fly photo 4
Photo: Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY
Devoted Horse Fly photo 5
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0
Devoted Horse Fly photo 6
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0

Same family (Tabanidae)

Black Horse FlyBlack Horse FlyTabanus atratusCan biteBeautiful Deer FlyBeautiful Deer FlyChrysops callidusCan biteStriped Horse FlyStriped Horse FlyTabanus lineolaCan biteTabanus sulcifronsTabanus sulcifronsTabanus sulcifronsTwin-lobed Deer FlyTwin-lobed Deer FlyChrysops relictusSplayed Deer FlySplayed Deer FlyChrysops caecutiensCan bite

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabanus_calens

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.