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Tabanus nigrovittatus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Family:	Tabanidae
Subfamily:	Tabaninae
Tribe:	Tabanini
Genus:	Tabanus
Species:	T. nigrovittatus
Binomial name
Tabanus nigrovittatus Macquart, 1847
Synonyms
Tabanus allynii Marten, 1883 Tabanus contactus Walker, 1850 Tabanus floridanus Szilády, 1926 Tabanus fulvilineis Philip, 1958 Tabanus simulans Walker, 1848

Tabanus nigrovittatus, also known as the greenhead horse fly, salt marsh greenhead, or simply the greenhead fly, greenhead or greenfly, is a species of horse-fly commonly found around the coastal marshes and wetlands of the Eastern United States. They are smaller than most horsefly species, instead being close in size to a common housefly. The biting females are a considerable pest to both humans and animals while they seek a source of blood protein to produce additional eggs: greenhead larvae develop in the mud of salt marshes, and adult flies mate and lay their first group of eggs in the marsh, but to lay more eggs a female fly needs to drink an animal's blood, and so female greenheads which have laid eggs fly inland to look for prey in the area bordering the marsh; they can stay on land looking for animals to bite for up to four weeks. Their bites itch, like those of mosquitoes, but are more painful, since greenheads feed by cutting a wound in the skin with scissor-like mouth parts and sucking the blood released through it. Females live for three to four weeks and may lay about 100 to 200 eggs per blood meal. The eggs are laid on the grass in a salt marsh; the larvae live in the intertidal mud of the salt marsh for one or two years, preying on other invertebrates, before pupating in early spring. The adult flies emerge in late spring and are most common from late June to August.

Greenheads are large enough that their population cannot be controlled with insecticide without damaging the ecosystem. Affected coastal communities install black box traps in marsh areas to reduce and control T. nigrovittatus populations.

References

1. Macquart, P.J.M. (1847). Diptères exotiques nouveaux ou peu connus. 2.e supplement. Paris: Roret. pp. 104 pp, 6 pls.
2. Marten, J. (1883). "New Tabanidae". The Canadian Entomologist. 15: 110–112. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
3. Walker, F. (1850). Diptera. Part I, pp. 1-76, pls. 1-2. In , Insecta Saundersiana: or characters of undescribed insects in the collection of William Wilson Saunders, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S., &c. Vol. 1. London: Van Voorst. p. 474.
4. Szilády, Z. (1926). "New and Old World horseflies". Biologica Hung. 1 (7): 1–30, 1 pl.
5. Philip, C.B. (1957). "New records of Tabanidae (Diptera) in the Antilles" (PDF). American Museum Novitates. 1858: 16. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
6. Walker, F. (1848). List of the specimens of dipterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. part 1. London: British Museum. pp. 1–229.
7. Moucha, J. (1976). "Horse-flies (Diptera: Tabanidae) of the World. Synoptic Catalogue" (PDF). Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae Supplements. 7: 1–320. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
8. Burger, J. F. (1995). "Catalog of Tabanidae (Diptera) in North America north of Mexico". International Contributions on Entomology. 1 (1). Associated Publishers: 1–100.
9. ^ Hansens, Elton; Race, Stuart. "The Greenhead and You". Rutgers Equine Science Center. Rutgers. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
10. ^ Graves, Annie. "Greenhead Flies | What are Greenheads?". Yankee Magazine. New England Network. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
11. ^ Hawk, Tim (2021-07-20). "New Jersey is powerless against greenhead flies. Here's why". NJ.com. Archived from the original on 2021-09-22.
12. Stubbs, A. & Drake, M. (2001). British Soldierflies and their Allies.
13. ^ "Greenhead Biology". Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project. Archived from the original on 2021-08-04.
14. Forman, Ethan (2022-04-13). "Gloucester takes aim at greenheads". Gloucester Daily Times. Archived from the original on 2022-05-07.

Media related to Tabanus nigrovittatus at Wikimedia Commons

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• Tabanidae
• Insects described in 1847
• Diptera of North America
• Fauna of the Eastern United States
• Taxa named by Pierre-Justin-Marie Macquart
• Tabanoidea stubs