Bug FAQTabanus petiolatus
Tabanus petiolatus · Order: Diptera · Family: Tabanidae
Male eyes show a dark brown streak across the lighter upper lenses, while females have uniformly dark brown eyes. It is often mistaken for Tabanus melanocerus or Tabanus trimaculatus.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Males have a dark brown streak in the larger, upper eye lenses. Females have uniformly dark brown eyes.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It belongs to the horse fly family Tabanidae.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It can be confused with Tabanus melanocerus or Tabanus trimaculatus.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 15 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Maryland, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Alabama, New Jersey, Tennessee.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What other flies are commonly confused with Tabanus petiolatus?
It is often mistaken for Tabanus melanocerus or Tabanus trimaculatus.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Tabanidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabanus_petiolatus
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-27 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-27.