Striped Horse Fly vs African Cotton Stainer
Side-by-side species comparison
| Attribute | Striped Horse Fly | African Cotton Stainer |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Tabanus lineola | Dysdercus fasciatus |
| Order | Diptera | Hemiptera |
| Family | Tabanidae | Pyrrhocoridae |
| Size | 12-16 mm | 13-18 mm |
| Habitat | Farmland | Farmland |
| Diet | Blood Feeders | Seed Feeders |
| Regions | Eastern North America | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Conservation | Least Concern | Least Concern |
Striped Horse Fly
A medium-sized horse fly with a pale dorsal stripe on the abdomen. Females are persistent blood-feeders on livestock and horses.
Did You Know?
Female horse flies can extract up to 0.5 ml of blood in a single feeding.
African Cotton Stainer
A vividly red and black pyrrhocorid bug that is a significant pest of cotton across tropical Africa. It aggregates in large numbers on cotton plants where it feeds on developing bolls. The bold coloration signals its unpalatability to birds.
Did You Know?
Large mating aggregations of hundreds of individuals form dense red clusters on cotton plants, making them highly conspicuous to farmers.