Talk:Stable fly

Our Work is Cut Out For Us
This sounds like a fascinating area of research. I took an invetebrate zoology (pronounced zoe ollijee) course in the 70s. In one of our lab classes we caught insects in nets to etherise and examine under bioscopes.

I spent 20 yrs as an RN in teaching medical centres. For a year I officed with a PA, who was the epidemiologist for ER research. So you epidemiologists, large animal veterinarians and entymologists can help.

Two questions arise: 1. They bites horses, so is Stomoxys calcitrans a vector for deseases such as mosquitos in Eastern equine encephalitis? 2. I remember being bitten by them in horse barns, so does this mean they are potential vectors of other arboviruses such as West Nile virus, which has, by my estimation, about 10-50 unreported human cases in my county? The Christmas crow counts were down a few years ago which the birders are saying is attributable to WNV, and I had a dead common grackle outside my door 4-5 yrs ago. We are starting to see more crows the last 2 yrs or so.

After visiting the project page, I see nobody is working on arthropoda so whoever knows how can put my name down to help--W8IMP 12:03, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Stable-fly vs. Horse-fly
This article claims these are referred to as horse flies, which contradicts Horse-fly. Can someone provide a clarification? Is Horse-fly the "true" horse fly and is a stable fly a "fake" horse fly?Dav2008 22:20, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Dav2008;

I eagerly await an answer to your question. The more common English names are posted, the more rich the article becomes. That is why Carolus Linnaeus applied binomial nomenclature, invented some 200 years previously by the Bauhin brothers and must remain an integral part of every natural history discussion. In my amateur zooligist's opinion the test has to be, if female/male male/female specimines can produce offspring, they are the same genus and species--but, what about horse, donkey, mule, hinny, horse/donkey/zebra bison/bull combinations? The test then has to be, whether or not their offspring are capable of reproducing. It is my belief that if their offspring cannot produce viable offspring, they are not the same species.--W8IMP 06:44, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

As not-remotely-a-zoologist, it's confusing to me. The first 3 of these articles mention "horseflies," but the first two refer to biting flies that are classified significantly differently than the third:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse-fly

(Family: Tabanidae)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer_flies

(Family: Tabanidae.....Genus: Chrysops)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable_fly

(Family: Muscidae....Genus: Stomoxys)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housefly

(refers and links to the "Stomoxys" stable fly article, but doesn't mention "Horse flies":)

At the very least, it seems that these articles should acknowledge the phenomenon of "Horsefly" referring to more than one type of fly. Sojambi Pinola (talk) 20:34, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Common names such as "horse-fly" have no true scientific meaning. However, from my recollection of studying entomology in the 1980s, it was generally accepted that the term "horse-fly" should be applied to any member of the Tabanidae, with the other names (e.g. goldeneye, clegg, etc.) applying to genera or species thereof, and that the stable-fly, being a member of the Muscidae, should therefore not be counted among the horse-flies. --Wally Tharg (talk) 16:07, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

stable fly = stomoxys calcitrans, horse fly = tabanus sp. Two completely different species. Stable flies look identicle to house flies (musca domestica) except with a proboscus for feeding on blood.

Possible New England Folk Name: Moose Fly
Although I readily lack a source, I think we call these things "Moose flies" in New England.67.241.212.136 (talk) 00:09, 25 January 2017 (UTC) Errata I meant Moose Fly Not Deer Fly. Correcting the header and body now. Also, specifically the New England state of Maine 67.241.212.136 (talk) 00:44, 25 January 2017 (UTC)