Biggest fly I've ever seen

[claretbumble]

Hi all,

new here, but looks like a wonderful forum. I'm sure you get this all the time, but would like to identify a "fly" I spotted recently (I had the unpleasant privelidge of sharing a B+B bedroom with it!). I have a picture on an old, low-res mobile, but no way of posting it... hope my description suffices.

First up was the size of the beast - 25 - 30 mm from head to tail. It looked "fly-like", but had a broad, slightly flattened body, and pronounced banded markings - looked like about 5 stripes each in a medium honey and dark brown colours. Large head, with what looks like a single "wraparound" set of eyes - didn't look like any division between the two, and very prominent. The bit between head and body (thorax?) appeared almost circular, but may just have been large dark circular marking. Very long wings, extending well beyond the end of the abdomen - by another 5 - 7mm, I would reckon. Couldn't see if there were 1 or 2 pairs of wings, but it looked like just 1 pair. Wings were well swept back, slightly pointed oval shape, and didn't "cross-over" when folded over the abdomen - they stuck out and back at a "swept-back" angle.

Creature appeared pretty lethargic - didn't move all night. In the morning, it rather clumsily crawled over a small lip in the window-cill, and flew off. Never made any other attempts to move, and temperature wasn't that low overnight.

Location was Isle of Bute, on the Clyde coast.

Hope this is enough to go on - not looking for species, just an idea of "what the heck was that"?!?! It was the size that was scary.

Thanks for reading.

[claretbumble]

Nobody?

Anyone any idea where I might start to look - even a rough idea? Would rather not shell out a fortune on a good entomology book.

Thanks

[Za]

Hi Claretbumble,welcome to WAB, sorry but I dont know anything about flies, however,if you look in the photo Gallery, there is a good chance that your fly will be in there somewhere.
Might take a bit of hunting, but it will be cheaper than buying a book
Hopefully one of the "flying thing" experts will see your post and be able to point you in the right direction.
Za

[Andy Warne]

Laurence is the man for flies, hopefully he'll be on sometime. In the meantime, you could search google images for "tabanus" and have a look to see if they look anything like what you saw. I believe there are a couple of species that grow to the size of your fly, if it was then you should be glad it was so drowsy!

[Wild-Woman]

Mmm. Sounds a bit horse-flyish?

[Gill Catton]

or possibly a hoverfly I know this is a long shot as they appear to be turning up all over the place try volucella zonaria

[claretbumble]

Thanks for the responses. Definately one of the Tabanus species. If I'd known "They may even carve a chunk completely out of the victim, to be digested at its leisure.", it would have been straight out the window! Horse-fly - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cheers

[Wild-Woman]

He he. They're little sweet-peas really. Such magical eyes.(Well I have had a few glasses of red this evening)

[angmarwitch]

Originally Posted by claretbumble

Hi all,

new here, but looks like a wonderful forum. I'm sure you get this all the time, but would like to identify a "fly" I spotted recently (I had the unpleasant privelidge of sharing a B+B bedroom with it!). I have a picture on an old, low-res mobile, but no way of posting it... hope my description suffices.

First up was the size of the beast - 25 - 30 mm from head to tail. It looked "fly-like", but had a broad, slightly flattened body, and pronounced banded markings - looked like about 5 stripes each in a medium honey and dark brown colours. Large head, with what looks like a single "wraparound" set of eyes - didn't look like any division between the two, and very prominent. The bit between head and body (thorax?) appeared almost circular, but may just have been large dark circular marking. Very long wings, extending well beyond the end of the abdomen - by another 5 - 7mm, I would reckon. Couldn't see if there were 1 or 2 pairs of wings, but it looked like just 1 pair. Wings were well swept back, slightly pointed oval shape, and didn't "cross-over" when folded over the abdomen - they stuck out and back at a "swept-back" angle.

Creature appeared pretty lethargic - didn't move all night. In the morning, it rather clumsily crawled over a small lip in the window-cill, and flew off. Never made any other attempts to move, and temperature wasn't that low overnight.

Location was Isle of Bute, on the Clyde coast.

Hope this is enough to go on - not looking for species, just an idea of "what the heck was that"?!?! It was the size that was scary.

Thanks for reading.

Sounds like a type of horse fly, hopefully male - they dont bite, otherwise consider yourself lucky not to be nursing a nice lump on some part of your anatomy