[2] As the scientific name suggests, it prefers bovine animals as the source of blood, although it may bite other kind of mammals as well.

This loud-buzzing horse-fly can be a nuisance, as it circles around its target and occasionally lands to deliver a bite (in the case of humans, the fly usually takes off again instead).

However, to humans it is considerably less harmful than deer flies (Chrysops), which bite much more vigorously.

There are no commercially available insect repellents that fully work against this horse-fly, however it usually avoids smoke and exhaust gases.

Like all horse-fly species, it is only the females that require a blood meal, this is in order to provide sufficient protein to produce eggs.