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Bug Spotlight!
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Pantophthalmidae
is a small family of giant flies.
There are only 22 species in the family, all of them Neotropical,
and while they resemble Horse Flies (Tabanidae) they are only somewhat
related to them, and do not bite.
In fact, the adults don't feed at all, spending most of their
lives as large grubs boring in trees, especially in roots, so the adult
stage is only a very brief portion of the life cycle, similar to
cicadas.
There is at least one species, Pantophthalmus
roseni, which is a minor pest, attacking oaks in
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