A small, dark-colored biting insect (family Simuliidae) that lives near moving water and whose females bite mammals and birds, causing painful itching.
Compound noun from 'black' (the insect's color) and 'fly,' describing the appearance of these tiny pest insects found worldwide.
Female black flies are the ones that bite—they need blood protein to develop eggs—while males are harmless vegetarians, showing how insects with similar names can have totally different behaviors.
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