Bad-smelling Alkanet vs common horse fly

Alkanna maleolens compared with Haematopota pluvialis

Key Differences

• Bad-smelling Alkanet is Critically Endangered while common horse fly is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Bad-smelling Alkanet	common horse fly
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Insecta (Insects)
Order	Boraginales (Boraginales)	Diptera (Diptera)
Family	Boraginaceae	Tabanidae
Genus	Alkanna	Haematopota
Species	Alkanna maleolens	Haematopota pluvialis

Conservation Status

Bad-smelling Alkanet

CR — Critically Endangered

common horse fly

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Bad-smelling Alkanet	common horse fly
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Bad-smelling Alkanet

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

common horse fly

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.

Bad-smelling Alkanet

The Bad-smelling Alkanet (Alkanna maleolens) is a species in the genus Alkanna. It is currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

common horse fly

<em>Haematopota pluvialis</em>, commonly known as the common horse fly, is a blood-feeding dipteran insect in the family Tabanidae. It is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The species is recorded from Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, with a distribution centered in northwestern Europe, where it typically inhabits moist, vegetated areas near water bodies, woodland margins, and pastures. Female horse flies are well known as ectoparasites of large mammals, while males are primarily nectar feeders. Diet information beyond this general feeding ecology is not available in current species records. Biological traits of this species remain poorly documented in the scientific literature.