Splayed Deerfly - Chrysops caecutiens

Length 8.5 to 10 mm. The females have a characteristic splayed v-shaped marking on tergite 2. Males have the abdomen almost entirely black, though tergite 2 is narrowly orange at its sides; the male mid tibiae are normally entirely black.

It can occur in a variety of habitats but often in damp or well wooded places.

They are active from May to September

The predatory larvae live in wet mud and debris at the edges of streams and pools. This is one of our two frequent deerflies and with a strongly developed taste for human blood.

Widespread and fairly frequent in much of England and Wales, though less common from Cumbria northwards.

Fairly frequent but not well recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland.