Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Chrysops frigidus is found through­out Canada and Alaska and in the north­east­ern parts of the United States in New Eng­land. The most south­ern por­tion of its range ex­tends through the Rocky Moun­tains into Col­orado. (Teskey, 1990; Thomas, 2009)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Chrysops frigidus is found in a va­ri­ety of wet­land habi­tats. It is most com­monly col­lected in swampy wood­lands. The lar­vae of the fly are also found in a wide va­ri­ety of wet­land habi­tats but are ob­lig­ate to a moss sub­strate. (Teskey, 1969; Teskey, 1990; Thomas, 2009)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• taiga
• forest

• Wetlands
• marsh
• swamp
• bog

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Chrysops frigidus has a rel­a­tively small body size com­pared to other Chrysops. It typ­i­cally has a yel­low frons, dark­en­ing at the ver­tex. The palps are brown. The first an­ten­nal seg­ment is brown and the rest are a darker shade of brown or black. On the dor­sum of the ab­domen the first ter­gite has a dark mid­dor­sal rec­tan­gle sur­rounded by yel­low. The first ter­gite also con­tains a me­dian lu­nate black mark below the scutel­lum; this black mark nar­rowly reaches the hind mar­gin of ter­gite 1 and meets a broader than long, pos­te­ri­orly emar­ginate black fig­ure on ter­gite 2. The re­main­ing ter­gites are black with nar­row paler hind mar­gins. Males dif­fer from fe­males in that they have a mod­er­ately swollen scape, wider than the fla­gel­lum, a clypeal pru­inose stripe that is com­plete to the oral mar­gin, and wings with greater pig­men­ta­tion in par­tic­u­lar cells. The paler ex­treme of col­oration was de­scribed as C. frigidus xan­thas, but this vari­ant oc­curs in many pop­u­la­tions of the typ­i­cal form across the coun­try so it is not cur­rently rec­og­nized as more than a va­ri­ety.

The larva is 12 to 15 mm long, pale yel­low in color with a green­ish tinge. It has pu­bes­cence typ­i­cal of other mem­bers of the genus, but only has minute lat­eral patches of pu­bes­cence on the pre­anal seg­ment and 1 to 3 small pu­bes­cent spots on the lat­eral sur­faces of the anal seg­ment. The pupa is 11 to 12 mm long and light brown. The an­ten­nal ridges are small com­pared to other species. All scle­rites of seg­ments 2 to 7 have spin­ous fringes ex­cept the sterna on seg­ments 2 to 5. (Teskey, 1969; Teskey, 1990; Thomas, 2009)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry
• polymorphic

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes colored or patterned differently

• Average length

  7-11 mm

  in

De­vel­op­ment

Deer flies are holometabolous and progress through egg, lar­val, pupal and adult stages. A blood meal is nec­es­sary for egg pro­duc­tion. Chrysops frigidus is au­to­ge­nous, and can lay one batch of eggs with­out a blood meal. Nec­tar feed­ing by fe­males of some species may be a sig­nif­i­cant fac­tor af­fect­ing the yolk­ing of eggs and fe­male suc­cess. Lit­tle spe­cific in­for­ma­tion on the de­vel­op­ment of Chrysops frigidus is avail­able. Ta­ban­idae in gen­eral lay their eggs in shel­tered moist areas with Chrysops frigidus in par­tic­u­lar using moss sub­strates. Eggs are laid at­tached to each other and to a sub­strate (over or near water) in masses of less than 100 eggs. Em­by­ronic de­vel­op­ment is usu­ally com­plete in about 5 days. Al­most all eggs hatch si­mul­ta­ne­ously after some warm­ing by the sun. Lar­vae in­habit the soil or stream bed below and pass through ap­prox­i­mately 6 in­stars. It is known that the growth of the larva hap­pens far enough un­der­ground that lar­vi­cide treat­ments are in­ef­fec­tive. Lar­val de­vel­op­ment takes about 9 to 10 months. The lar­vae then mi­grate to a po­si­tion where they will not be sub­merged for ex­tended pe­ri­ods and pu­pate. The pupal pe­riod lasts about 2 weeks. Adults nor­mally emerge from pupal cases in the morn­ing and their wings soon ex­pand and harden, mak­ing flight pos­si­ble. ("Ta­ban­idae The horse­flies", 2002; Lake and Burger, 1980; Magnarelli and An­der­son, 1977; Magnarelli and An­der­son, 1981; Roberts, 1980; Teskey, 1969; Teskey, 1990)

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis
• diapause

Re­pro­duc­tion

Lit­tle is known about the spe­cific mat­ing be­hav­ior of this species but in other Chrysops species, males use ei­ther a hov­er­ing or non-hov­er­ing flight be­hav­ior as they seek mates. This has been most ex­ten­sively stud­ied in the salt marsh species C. at­lanti­cus and C. fulig­i­nosus. Most deer fly species use a strat­egy of wait­ing on nearby veg­e­ta­tion and then fly­ing out after any pass­ing flies, in­clud­ing po­ten­tial fe­male mates. In the salt marsh species, mat­ing oc­curred mainly in the morn­ing at cooler tem­per­a­tures, be­fore ovipo­si­tion and feed­ing later in the day, at higher tem­per­a­tures. Some re­search sug­gests that fe­males may mate at least two times dur­ing their adult lifes­pan. In most Ta­ban­idae species, the male to fe­male sex ratio is 1:1. (An­der­son, 1971; Catts and Olkowski, 1972; Good­win and Drees, 1996; Lep­rince, et al., 1983; Teskey, 1990; Troubridge and Davies, 1975)

• Mating System
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)

Fe­males gen­er­ally take about 4 to 8 days after a blood meal to ma­ture a batch of eggs. These are laid as a group, usu­ally on the stems or un­der­side of leaves above or near a moss sus­b­trate. They are usu­ally laid on warm, sunny days in the morn­ing. Both males and fe­males are known to take nec­tar meals for an en­ergy source, and this seems to be an im­por­tant source of nu­tri­tion. Ta­ban­ids are good fliers and may move as far as 1 to 2 km from their breed­ing sites to de­posit egg masses. (An­der­son, 1971; Catts and Olkowski, 1972; Good­win and Drees, 1996; Lep­rince, et al., 1983; Magnarelli and An­der­son, 1977; Teskey, 1990)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • internal
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Females likely mate twice in their lives.

• Breeding season

  Mating takes place from May to September.

The fe­males pro­vide pro­vi­sion­ing in their eggs, and also lay their eggs in the spe­cific moss habi­tat that al­lows the lar­vae to sur­vive best. The adults then move on and pro­vide no fur­ther care. (Teskey, 1990)

• Parental Investment
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Chrysops frigidus hatches from eggs in sum­mer, over­win­ters as a larva, emerges from the pupa in early sum­mer and dies in late sum­mer. Lifes­pan is a lit­tle over a year, at most. Lit­tle is known about the longevity of in­di­vid­u­als as adults, but they are known to live for a num­ber of weeks.

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  1 (high) years

Be­hav­ior

There is lit­tle in­for­ma­tion avail­able about the be­hav­ior of Chrysops frigidus. Ta­ban­idae fe­males, specif­i­cally Chrysops, typ­i­cally occur in groups es­pe­cially when seek­ing a blood meal. They are very ac­tive or­gan­isms, fly­ing a con­sid­er­able amount. The sea­sonal ac­tiv­ity of adult deer flies nor­mally ex­tends from late May to mid-Sep­tem­ber. Ac­tiv­ity is the great­est on sunny days with lit­tle or no wind. Sev­eral vari­ables are known to af­fect ac­tiv­ity in­clud­ing baro­met­ric pres­sure, tem­per­a­ture, cloud cover, and rel­a­tive hu­mid­ity. The fe­males of the species ac­tively seek warm-blooded mam­mals, such as deer and peo­ple in order to get a blood meal to nour­ish their eggs. Be­cause a bite is painful, blood meals are often in­ter­rupted by avoid­ance be­hav­iors of hosts. To com­plete a meal, fe­males must feed on mul­ti­ple host in­di­vid­u­als, pro­mot­ing the spread of dis­ease among the host species. Var­i­ous ta­ban­ids in North Amer­ica are known to be vec­tors of tu­laremia, equine in­fec­tious ane­mia, vesic­u­lar stom­ati­tis, hog cholera, en­cephali­tis, anaplas­mo­sis, try­panoso­mi­a­sis, and fi­lar­ial der­mato­sis of sheep. (Bur­nett and Hays, 1974; Krin­sky, 1976; Teskey, 1990)

• Key Behaviors
• flies
• diurnal
• parasite
• motile
• hibernation
• daily torpor
• solitary

Home Range

Ta­banid flies will dis­perse 1 to 2 km from their breed­ing sites.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Al­though Chrysops frigidus has not been stud­ied, ta­ban­ids in gen­eral use both vi­sual and chem­i­cal cues to per­ceive their en­vi­ron­ment and com­mu­ni­cate with other in­di­vid­u­als. Males use vi­sion to help lo­cate mates, and fe­males use vi­sion dur­ing their search for hosts and ovipo­si­tion lo­ca­tions.

Chem­i­cals are ob­vi­ously part of the at­trac­tion that fe­males have to hosts, be­cause traps baited with car­bon diox­ide or octenol are known to at­tract feed­ing fe­males. Fe­males also see at­tracted ther­mally to po­ten­tial hosts. They are es­pe­cially at­tracted to dark sur­faces, and black ball traps are reg­u­larly used to col­lect in­di­vid­u­als. (An­der­son, 1971; Catts and Olkowski, 1972; Lep­rince, et al., 1983; Mihok, et al., 2007; Teskey, 1990)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual
• infrared/heat
• ultraviolet
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

The lar­vae ap­par­ently feed on or­ganic mat­ter in moist soil but their spe­cific feed­ing habits are un­known. Adult males feed on nec­tar (which is their pri­mary en­ergy source) and pollen. Fe­males feed on nec­tar as a major en­ergy source, but also use hon­ey­dew se­creted by Hemiptera and rot­ting fruit. Adult fe­males feed on blood to yolk eggs, using a va­ri­ety of ver­te­brates. Deer and hu­mans are fre­quently tar­geted, but cat­tle, sheep, hogs, horses and other do­mes­tic an­i­mals are also fre­quent hosts. (Lewis and Lep­rince, 1981; Magnarelli and An­der­son, 1977; Magnarelli and An­der­son, 1980; Magnarelli and An­der­son, 1981; McAlpine, et al., 1981; Teskey, 1990)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • nectarivore
• detritivore

• Animal Foods
• blood

• Plant Foods
• fruit
• nectar
• pollen

• Other Foods
• detritus

Pre­da­tion

Deer flies of the genus Chrysops have been recorded as prey for birds, am­phib­ians, drag­on­flies, rob­ber flies, and wasps (in­clud­ing Vespula, Crabro, and Be­m­bix). (Teskey, 1990)

• Known Predators

  • birds, Aves
  • amphibians, Amphibia
  • dragonflies, Anisoptera
  • robber flies, Asilidae
  • wasps, Vespula
  • wasps, Crabro
  • wasps, Bembix

Ecosys­tem Roles

Chrysops frigidus males may pol­li­nate the flow­ers on which they feed. They are also food for other an­i­mals. Fe­males are par­a­sites and re­quire a blood meal to re­pro­duce. They feed on the blood of many large ver­te­brates, in­clud­ing deer, hu­mans, and many do­mes­tic an­i­mals. The fe­males can also trans­mit dis­eases to their hosts. Chrysops frigidus also serves as a host to a large va­ri­ety of par­a­sites. (Krin­sky, 1976)

• Ecosystem Impact
• parasite

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Chrysops frigidus have no de­scribed ben­e­fits to hu­mans. It is pos­si­ble that adults feed­ing on flower nec­tar may pro­vide pol­li­na­tion ser­vices. (Teskey, 1990)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Deer flies are known as pests be­cause the fe­male will feed on the blood of cer­tain mam­mals, es­pe­cially hu­mans. Chrysops are known to be po­ten­tial vec­tors for an­thrax, tu­laremia, anaplas­mo­sis, hog cholera, equine in­fec­tious ane­mia and fi­lar­i­a­sis. Ta­banid flies may also be an oc­ca­sional vec­tor of Lyme Dis­ease. The di­rect im­pact on hu­mans in North Amer­ica is mainly as an an­noy­ance, but se­ri­ous dam­age can re­sult in do­mes­tic an­i­mals, due to bit­ing and dis­ease trans­mis­sion. (Lewis and Lep­rince, 1981; Luger, 1990; Lyon, 2013; Magnarelli and An­der­son, 1980)

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • bites or stings
  • carries human disease
• causes or carries domestic animal disease

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

This species is abun­dant and re­quires no spe­cial con­ser­va­tion sta­tus.

• IUCN Red List

  Not Evaluated

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Com­ments

Very lit­tle in­for­ma­tion is avail­able about this species. Most in­for­ma­tion here is from stud­ies on other species in the genus Chrysops.

Con­trib­u­tors

Nicholas Gezon (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan Bi­o­log­i­cal Sta­tion, Brian Scholtens (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan Bi­o­log­i­cal Sta­tion, An­gela Miner (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff.

Ref­er­ences

2002. "Ta­ban­idae The horse­flies" (On-line). Ac­cessed Au­gust 07, 2013 at http://​www.​cbwinfo.​com/​Biological/​Vectors/​Tabanidae.​html.

An­der­son, J. 1971. Au­to­geny and mat­ing and their re­la­tion­ship to bit­ing in the salt­marsh deer fly, Chrysops at­lanti­cus (Diptera: Ta­ban­idae). Ann. En­to­mol. Soc. Amer., 64/6: 1421-1424.

Bur­nett, A., K. Hays. 1974. Some in­flu­ence of me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal fac­tors on flight ac­tiv­ity of fe­male horse flies (Diptera: Ta­ban­idae). En­v­i­ron. En­to­mol., 3: 515-521.

Catts, E., W. Olkowski. 1972. Bi­ol­ogy of Ta­ban­idae (Diptera): mat­ing and feed­ing be­hav­ior of Chrysops ful­lig­i­nosus. En­v­i­ron. En­to­mol., 1/4: 448-453.

Good­win, J., B. Drees. 1996. The horse and deer flies (Diptera: Ta­ban­idae) of Texas. South­west­ern En­to­mo­log­i­cal So­ci­ety, 20/3: 1-140.

Krin­sky, W. 1976. An­i­mal dis­ease agents trans­mit­ted by horse-flies and deer flies (Diptera: Ta­ban­idae). J. Med­ical En­to­mol., 13: 225-275.

Lake, D., J. Burger. 1980. Ovar­ian de­vel­op­ment in adult Chrysops (Diptera: Ta­ban­idae) in north­ern New Eng­land, with em­pha­sis on Chrysops ater and C. mitis. J. Med­ical En­to­mol., 17/6: 502-505.

Lep­rince, D., D. Lewis, J. Par­ent. 1983. Bi­ol­ogy of male ta­ban­ids (Diptera) ag­gre­gated on a moun­tain sum­mit in south­west­ern Que­bec. J. Med­ical En­to­mol., 20: 608-613.

Lewis, D., D. Lep­rince. 1981. Horse flies and deer flies (Diptera: Ta­ban­idae) feed­ing on cat­tle in south­west­ern Que­bec. Cana­dian En­to­mol­o­gist, 113: 883-886.

Luger, S. 1990. Lyme Dis­ease trans­mit­ted by a bit­ing fly. New Eng­land Jour­nal of Med­i­cine, 322/24: 1752.

Lyon, W. 2013. "Horse and Deer Flies" (On-line). Ac­cessed Au­gust 08, 2013 at http://​ohioline.​osu.​edu/​hyg-fact/​2000/​2115.

Magnarelli, L., J. An­der­son. 1977. Fol­lic­u­lar de­vel­op­ment in salt marsh Ta­ban­idae (Diptera) and in­ci­dence of nec­tar feed­ing with re­la­tion to gonotrophic ac­tiv­ity. Ann. En­to­mol. Soc. Amer., 70/4: 529-533.

Magnarelli, L., J. An­der­son. 1981. Sugar feed­ing by fe­male ta­ban­ids (Diptera: Ta­ban­idae) and its re­la­tion to gonotrophic ac­tiv­ity. J. Med­ical En­to­mol., 18/5: 429-433.

Magnarelli, L., J. An­der­son. 1980. Feed­ing be­hav­ior of Ta­ban­idae (Diptera) on cat­tle and sero­logic analy­ses of par­tial blood meals. En­v­i­ron. En­to­mol., 9: 664-667.

McAlpine, J., B. Pe­ter­son, G. Slewell, H. Teskey, J. Vockeroth, D. Wood. 1981. Man­ual of Nearc­tic Diptera. Ot­tawa, On­tario: Biosys­tem­at­ics Re­search In­sti­tute.

Mihok, S., D. Carl­son, P. Ndegwa. 2007. Tsetse and other bit­ing fly re­sponses to Nzi traps baited with octenol, phe­nols and ace­tone. Med­ical and Vet­eri­nary En­to­mol., 21: 70-84.

Proshek, B. 2007. "Species Page - Chrysops frigidus" (On-line). En­to­mol­ogy Col­lec­tion. Ac­cessed Au­gust 06, 2013 at http://​www.​entomology.​ualberta.​ca/​searching_​species_​details.​php?​b=Diptera&​c=7&​s=6281.

Roberts, R. 1980. The ef­fect of tem­per­a­ture on the du­ra­tion of oo­ge­n­e­sis and em­bry­onic de­vel­op­ment in Ta­ban­idae (Diptera). J. Med­ical En­to­mol., 17/1: 8-14.

Teskey, H. 1969. Lar­vae and pupae of Ta­ban­idae. Mem­oirs of the En­to­mo­log­i­cal So­ci­ety of Canada, 63: 1-147.

Teskey, H. 1990. The horse flies and deer flies of Canada and Alaska Diptera: Ta­ban­idae. The In­sects and Arach­nids of Canada, 381: 1-End.

Thomas, A. 2009. Ta­ban­idae of Canada, east of the Rocky Moun­tains 1: a pho­to­graphic key to species of Chrysopinae and Pan­go­ni­inae (Diptera: Ta­ban­idae). Cana­dian jour­nal of arthro­pod iden­ti­fi­ca­tion, Un­known: Un­known.

Troubridge, D., D. Davies. 1975. Sea­sonal changes in phys­i­o­log­i­cal age com­po­si­tion of ta­banid (Diptera) pop­u­la­tions in south­ern On­tario. J. Med­ical En­to­mol., 12/4: 453-457.