---

hello, i?d like to find tabanidae and they seem to hide away from me!. It?s not my 1st "birthday" with diptera still, but i?ve foundt many families; it?s suposed i should have fount some. I?ve been next to "meat-milk" cows, to brave cows and nothing.
maybe i?m not looking well or just not having luck. Can somebody give me any orientation? :( i?ve got compass and gps :)

---

Have you tried leaving the car in the bright, hot sun for some time and then open it? Especially in areas where there is some surface water that should do the trick.

---

Hmm. Around here you dont find tabanids, they find you:(

The only tip I can think of is that tabnid larvae develop in wet soil or moss and the adults are most numerous in wetlands. Open fens or fields is generally better than forest. The adults circle their target fast and low, mainly below knee level (especially the larger Hybomitra and Tabanus). Sometimes they are 'clever' and fly mostly behind you, walking slowly backwards while sweeping seems to give better results.

---

I have a lot of Sun here... inside car, temperatures can reach almost near 70?C... :| (glup)

You mean, when we open the door of car... the tabanidae enters on the car?

---

My test better is car with working motor (look at thread Tabanus (bovinus?))

---

Yeah, they are small heat-seeking missiles :p

---

hahaha lol, by now "only" 36?C where i live, other places real 50? in spain, the part of the wet soil maybe will be more difficult, i panic one zone with sure water all summer i know; terrifying everglades (marshes?), in that case i should wear a mosquito net around me and capturing all the outer-rest. People who lives next to that zone say some mosquitos are bigger than birds, i don?t know if i?ll be able to afford that mosquitoes and tabanidae together:D
thanks everyone

---

here we have got in last year 43?C... very hot, it seems we are on the desert!!!! :|
Yesterday temperatures was very near 40?C.... On the coast, temperatures are much better. Between 25?-35?C... :)
I have seen a lot of asilids and bombyliids.

---

yes!, the 50? registered in Granada, outdoors,

finally i think tabanidae have scaped from here looking for nikita?s camera (and nikita:) )

---

It is illustration of using car for Tabanidae hunting.
My car is good for Tabanidae attracting, but isn't clean enought for photo. For photo I use my daugther's car, always clean;)
Female, Heamatopota pluvialis.

---

Curious that a car can be used to "call" flies. :)))
I will try to do that near a river... :)

I wish I could spot Dolichopodidae flies, never seen one. (or if I saw, I didn?t know what I was seeing. ;)

---

Look for delicate bright green flies sitting on leaves near the river. They are often found in large numbers near mud (riverside, muddy paths etc.), especially in shadow. Larger species (Dolichopus, Argyra, larger Rhaphium etc.) usually sit on leaves on the edge of mud, smaller species (Campsicnemus, Rhaphium) frequent the mud surface. If you find some semi-permanent mud (ie. wet through the year) you'll certainly find these flies too.

---

For tabanids, when you are anywhere with wet or moist habitat, try looking on fence posts or any vertical surfaces. Look early in the day, before it gets very hot. Male tabanids often sit on vertical surfaces to warm up early in the day.

Car- try leaving a window or two open. The Tabanids will often enter the car through the open window.

---

Finally I get Dolichopodidae flies by sure! They are so small. :( They have a strange position in relation to trees (Platanus sp.) where I find them. They have almost a vertical position of thier body in relation to surface of tree. Amazing!

Tabanidae fly I found in a forest... strange... no wet habitats near... (it seems so that)

But Tabanidae flies like more clean cars, isn?t it? :) Strange, they seems don~t like strong and dark colours of the car...

---

And there is another reason.
Tabanidae (females are attracted by CO2.
And when you sent some time in a car, the CO2 levels will rise.

Simple comme bonjour


Theo Zeegers

---

Nikita, a 5 star photo that should be in the Tabanid Gallery
http://www.dipter...g_9363.jpg

---

.
Tabanids are attracted to black shiny spheres, the larger the better. Support a sphere below a plastic canopy and put a cage on top. You can see tabanids in the cage here. The plastic sheet should be outside the frame in the photo.

---

You will be marketing this contraption around the world this summer and autumn I take it? The entertainment value for passers by seems fairly high - perhaps another commercial opportunity there? :p

I've just bought a car, having not had one for 10 years, and I will of course be conducting a series of experiments this year to establish the attractiveness of light metallic green Scenics to Tabanidae.:D

---

KEWL! ... eh ... most amazing equipment!

:)

martin

---

You'd be surprised at the responses. A couple of these out in a marsh has led to the locals thinking UFO's have landed. Cattle and horses like to rub themselves against the frame - with disasterous consequences (for the trap!), black bears like to play with the ball, equally disasterous. In the USA a friend has his black balls used as targets for trigger-happy riflemen.
Green cars are useless, trade it in for a black mpodel.

---

You'd be surprised at the responses. A couple of these out in a marsh has led to the locals thinking UFO's have landed. Cattle and horses like to rub themselves against the frame - with disasterous consequences (for the trap!), black bears like to play with the ball, equally disasterous. In the USA a friend has his black balls used as targets for trigger-happy riflemen.
Green cars are useless, trade it in for a black mpodel.

---

So you think risking serious burns from the steering wheel and metal bits of the seat belt are worth it in order to get more Tabinids? :o Don't fancy it myself.

I do fancy having one of these contraptions though, and will send you a pm for more details on the construction. Ideally mine will have to withstand being set on fire by the locals, that being their favoured method of entertaining themselves on the marsh, but although the site is an important one for water voles, I don't think the device will suffer much from their attentions. :D

---

I've been to the UK in Summer, big problem has always been rain - can't recall ever seeing the sun. Canada does get HOT, air-condition cars are the norm.B)


I think your best bet is a Malaise Trap. The trap I showed earlier is a Manitoba Fly Trap. A Malaise trap will catch hundreds of flies/day, including tabanids. MFT's catch only tabanids (saves a lot of sorting). Incorporating a black ball with a Malaise Trap gets you both Tabanids and other flies (+ wasps etc).

---

No no no - you're thinking of the old, pre-climate change UK. Nowadays we have hot drought striken summers. B)