Very few individuals have been captured to date. The distribution of C. indus extends from southeastern Manitoba through Ontario to Quebec, extending south into the USA through the Great Lakes to Virginia. The species is an aggressive pest of humans and livestock. Larval habitats are diverse (Teskey, 1990).

C. indus was one of the most common deer flies captured in farming areas near Guelph, Ontario (Teskey, 1960; Golini & Wright, 1978), but it accounted for only 1.3% of the catch near Caledonia (Troubridge & Davies, 1975). At Algonquin Park in a forested region of Ontario, C. indus represented less than 10% of the deer fly catch (Davies, 1959; Smith et al., 1970). Bennett & Smith (1968) marked 53 flies at this location, but only recaptured a single fly. Bennett (1960) recorded C. indus feeding on a caged raven and a crow at the same location. Baribeau & Maire (1983) appear to have caught small numbers at Trois Rivières in Quebec. Leprince et al. (1983) recorded nine males at Mount Rigaud, Quebec during studies of male aggregation and sugar feeding. Hanec & Bracken (1964) caught only 11 C. indus in the Whiteshell region while trapping at 27 localities in Manitoba. In the USA, C. indus is typically a minor component of the deer fly catch (references below). This species was captured in small numbers in carbon dioxide baited CDC light traps set for mosquitoes in Wisconsin (Amin & Hageman, 1974).

Chrysops indus 

Amin, O.M. & Hageman, A.G. (1974) Mosquitoes and Tabanids in southeast Wisconsin. Mosquito News 34, 170-177.

Baribeau, L. & Maire, A. (1983) Abundance and seasonal distribution of Tabanidae in a temperate and in a subarctic locality of Québec. Mosquito News 43, 135-143.

Bennett, G.F. (1960) On some ornithophilic blood-sucking Diptera in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada. Canadian Journal of Zoology 38, 377-389.

Bennett, G.F. & Smith, S.M. (1968) Phosphorous³² for marking Tabanidae (Diptera). Mosquito News 28, 559-569.

Burger, J.F., Lake, D.J. &  McKay, M.L. (1981) The larval habitats and rearing of some common Chrysops species (Diptera: Tabanidae) in New Hampshire. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 83, 373-389.

Davies, D.M. (1959) Seasonal variation of tabanids (Diptera) in Algonquin Park, Ontario. Canadian Entomologist 91, 548-553.

Golini, V.I. & Wright, R.E. (1978) Relative abundance and seasonal distribution of Tabanidae (Diptera) near Guelph, Ontario. Canadian Entomologist 110, 385-398.

Hanec, W. & Bracken, G.K. (1964) Seasonal and geographical distribution of Tabanidae (Diptera) in Manitoba, based on females captured in traps. Canadian Entomologist 96, 1362-1369.

Hayes, R.M. & Meyer, H.J. (1990) Daily and seasonal flight activity of Tabanidae (Diptera) in the North Dakota sandhills. pp. 683-690 in Hayes, D.K., Pauly, J.E. &  Reiter, R.J. (Ed) Chronobiology: its role in clinical medicine, general biology, and agriculture, part B. Proceedings of the XIX International Conference of the International Society for Chronobiology, June 20-24, 1989.  

Krinsky, W.L. & Pechuman, L.L. (1975) Trypanosomes in horse flies and deer flies in central New York state. Journal of Parasitology 61, 12-16.

Lake, D.J. & Burger, J.F. (1980) Ovarian development in adult Chrysops (Diptera: Tabanidae) in northern New England, with emphasis on Chrysops ater and C. mitis. Journal of Medical Entomology 17, 502-505.

Leprince, D.J., Lewis, D.J. &  Parent, J. (1983) Biology of male tabanids (Diptera) aggregated on a mountain summit in southwestern Quebec. Journal of Medical Entomology 20, 608-613.

Magnarelli, L.A. (1976) Physiological age of Tabanidae (Diptera) in eastern New York state, U.S.A. Journal of Medical Entomology 12, 679-682.

Magnarelli, L.A. & Anderson, J.F. (1980) Feeding behavior of Tabanidae (Diptera) on cattle and serologic analyses of partial blood meals. Environmental Entomology 9, 664-667.

Magnarelli, L.A. & Anderson, J.F. (1981) Sugar feeding by female tabanids (Diptera: Tabanidae) and its relation to gonotrophic activity. Journal of Medical Entomology 18, 429-433.

Smith, S.M., Davies, D.M. &  Golini, V.I. (1970) A contribution to the bionomics of the Tabanidae (Diptera) of Algonquin Park, Ontario: seasonal distribution, habitat preferences, and biting records. Canadian Entomologist 102, 1461-1473.

Strickler, J.D. & Walker, E.D. (1993) Seasonal abundance and species diversity of adult Tabanidae (Diptera) at Lake Lansing Park-North, Michigan. Great Lakes Entomologist  26, 107-112.

Tallamy, D.W., Hansens, E.J. &  Denno, R.F. (1976) A comparison of Malaise trapping and aerial netting for sampling a horsefly and deerfly community. Environmental Entomology 5, 788-792.

Teskey, H.J. (1960) Survey of insects affecting livestock in southwestern Ontario. Canadian Entomologist 92, 531-544.

Teskey, H.J. (1969) Larvae and pupae of some eastern North American Tabanidae. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Canada 63, 147 pp.

Thompson, P.H. (1969) Collecting methods for Tabanidae (Diptera). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 62, 50-57.