This is a common deer fly with a late flight season similar to C. aberrans. It is an annoying man-biting species found in southeastern Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick with a disjunct population in eastern Manitoba. Its larvae are common, with most found in wet soil on the margins of slow-flowing streams (Teskey, 1990).

C. univittatus was the most abundant deer fly in farming areas near Guelph, Ontario (Teskey, 1960), and was the second most abundant deer fly captured by Troubridge and Davies (1975) at Caledonia. In contrast, it was only a minor component of the catch of tabanids at Algonquin Park, Ontario (Davies, 1959; Bennett & Smith, 1968; Smith et al., 1970), and at Trois Rivières, Quebec (Baribeau & Marie, 1983). The species appears to be rare in the Maritimes (Lews & Bennett, 1977).

C. univittatus has been recorded in numerous studies in the USA, where it is sometimes one of the more abundant secondary species captured with either traps or aerial netting (Thompson, 1969; Magnarelli, 1976; Tallamy et al., 1976;  Magnarelli & Anderson, 1981; Strickler & Walker, 1993; Bartlett et al., 2002). Leprince & Lewis (1983) documented many details of its biology in southwestern Quebec, including a 2-fold increase in catch with the use of carbon dioxide. Various authours have examined flies for sugar feeding and reproductive condition and have confirmed that the species feeds on nectar, is anautogenous, and is typically uniparous. McKeever & French (1992) reared C. univittatus in the laboratory. Teskey (1969) provides information on immatures and their habitats in Canada.

Magnarelli & Anderson (1980) described feeding sites (81% on the head) and the frequencies of disrupted feeding (11%) on cattle in Connecticut. They identified 4-5 of 7 blood meals as having come from bovines-deer, with the rest from dog.

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.

Bartlett, K., Alm, S.R., Lebrun, R. & Ginsberg, H. (2002) The horse and deer flies (Diptera: Tabanidae) of Rhode Island. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 95, 547-551.

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

Krinsky, W.L. (1975) Cystic anomaly in the intestine of adult Tabanidae. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology  26, 137-138; 2 fig.; 2 ref.

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.

Leprince, D.J. & Lewis, D.J. (1983) Aspects of the biology of female Chrysops univittatus (Diptera: Tabanidae) in southwestern Quebec. Canadian Entomologist 115, 421-425.

Lewis, D.J. & Bennett, G.F. (1977) Biting flies of the eastern maritime provinces of Canada. I. Tabanidae. Canadian Journal of Zoology 55, 1493-1503.

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.

McKeever, S. & French, F.E. (1992) Observation on the laboratory life history of Chrysops atlanticus, C. univittatus and C. vittatus (Diptera: Tabanidae). Journal of Entomological Science 27, 458-460.

Reeves, W. (2006) Host-seeking behavior of selected Chrysops species (Diptera: Tabanidae) harboring Trypanosomatidae (Kinetoplastida). Journal of Insect Behavior, 19, 93-97.

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.

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