a. and sb. [f. L. tabānus a gad-fly or horse-fly (adopted by Linnæus as a generic name) + -ID3.] a. adj. Belonging to the family Tabanidæ of flies, of which Tabanus is the typical genus. b. sb. A fly of this family, a gad-fly.
1891. in Cent. Dict.
1895. Bulletin Illinois Labor. Nat. Hist., 197. As restless as a tabanid larva. Ibid., 199. It was, perhaps, this that the tabanids were feeding upon.
So Tabaniform a., having the form of a gad-fly (Mayne, Expos. Lex., 1860).
