Bat flies

This article deals only with the animals of the Nyceribiidae family known as bat flies. The Streblidae , which are often referred to as such, can be found there

Bat flies
Bat flies ( Nycteribiidae )
Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta) Order : Fly (Diptera) Superordinate : Flies (Brachycera) Partial order : Muscomorpha Superfamily : Hippoboscoidea Family : Bat flies
Scientific name
Nycteribiidae
Samouelle , 1819

The bat flies (Nycteribiidae), also known as spider flies, are a family of the two-winged flies ( Diptera). Within these they are assigned to the flies (Brachycera).

features

The bat flies are mostly wingless and are characterized by a spider-like shape. The animals are small and reach a body size of a few millimeters. The hips ( coxes ) of the animals are shifted very far on the back, whereby the legs are spread wide. In the rest position, the head is laid back on the thorax and lies there in a groove. The eyes are also largely regressed or completely absent. The attachment to the host is facilitated by several bristle combs and bristles on the body . The skin of bat flies is very tough, so that it is hardly possible to crush the animals with your fingers.

Way of life

The bat flies parasitize as ectoparasites on bats and feed on the blood of their hosts. To do this, they hold on to the fur of the animals. In some species the host specificity is very pronounced, but it is not uncommon for several species to parasitize on the same host. So lives Nycteribia pedicularia preferably on the Great and lesser mouse-ear and in other Myotis species.

The bat flies copulation often lasts several hours, with the pair running around and occasional somersaults (observed in Nycteribia pedicularia ). Such mating is sufficient for several generations of larvae. The larvae, which are born in the mature stage of pupation, are always released into the bats' houses. This simplifies the active finding of the new hosts.

Systematics

The Nycteribiidae are often combined with the Streblidae , which are often also referred to as bat flies, and the actual louse flies (Hippoboscidae) to form the louse flies in the broader sense (pupipara). All three groups give birth to larvae that pupate immediately after birth (adenotrophic viviparity ).

Around 250 species of bat flies are known worldwide, seven of them exclusively in Germany. In Europe , the bat fly family is represented by four genera and 17 species.

• Family: Nycteribiidae

• Subfamily: Archinycteribiinae Maa , 1975

• Genus: Archinycteribia Speiser , 1901

• Subfamily: Cyclopodiinae Maa , 1965

• Genus: Cyclopodia Kolenati , 1863
• Genus: Dipseliopoda Theodor , 1955
• Genus: Eucampsipoda Kolenati , 1857
• Genus: Leptocyclopodia Theodor , 1959

• Subfamily: Nycteribiinae Westwood , 1835

• Genus: Basilia Miranda Ribeiro , 1903

• Species: Basilia daganiae Theodor & Moscona , 1954
• Species: Basilia italica Theodor , 1954
• Species: Basilia mediterranea Hurka , 1970
• Species: Basilia mongolensis nudior Hurka , 1972
• Species: Basilia mongolensis Theodor , 1966
• Species: Basilia nana Theodor & Moscona , 1954
• Species: Basilia nattereri Kolenati , 1857

• Genus: Hershkovitzia Guimarães & d'Andretta , 1956
• Genus: Nycteribia Latreille , 1796

• Species: Nycteribia vexata Westwood , 1835
• Species: Nycteribia kolenatii Theodor & Moscona , 1954
• Species: Nycteribia latreillii ( Leach , 1817)
• Species: Nycteribia pedicularia Latreille , 1805
• Species: Nycteribia Schmidlii Schiner , 1853

• Genus: Penicillidia Kolenati , 1863

• Species: Penicillidia conspicua Speiser , 1901
• Species: Penicillidia dufourii dufourii ( Westwood , 1835)
• Species: Penicillidia dufourii ( Westwood , 1835)
• Species: Penicillidia monoceros Speiser , 1900

• Genus: Phthiridium Hermann , 1804

• Species: Phthiridium biarticulatum Hermann , 1804

• Genus: Stereomyia Theodor , 1967
• Genus: Stylidia Westwood , 1840

literature

• J. Haupt, H. Haupt (1998): Flies and mosquitoes - observation, way of life. Augsburg ( ISBN 3-89440-278-4 , 2001 edition).
• Klaus Honomichl, Heiko Bellmann (1994): Biology and ecology of insects. CD-Rom, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart. ( ISBN 3-8274-0760-5 , the 1998 edition in the Spektrum Akad. Verlag).

Web links

Commons : Nycteribiidae  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nycteribiidae at Fauna Europaea. Retrieved June 4, 2008 (Version 1.3, April 19, 2007).
2. ↑ Gustavo Graciolli, Carl W. Dick et al .: Checklist of World Nycteribiidae (Diptera: Hippoboscoidea) . Field Museum of Natural History . October 22, 2008. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012. Retrieved on December 10, 2008.