Hippoboscoidea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hippoboscoidea
Tsetse fly (genus Glossina)
Tsetse fly (genus Glossina)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Suborder: Brachycera
Superfamily: Hippoboscoidea
Families

 Glossinidae
 Hippoboscidae
 Mormotomyiidae
 Nycteribiidae
 Streblidae

Hippoboscoidea is a superfamily of Calyptratae. The flies in this superfamily are blood-feeding obligate parasites of their hosts. The Hippoboscidae are commonly called louse flies. The Streblidae and Nycteribiidae are known as bat flies. The family Mormotomyiidae contains one species, Mormotomyia hirsuta Austen, known from one locality in Kenya. The family Glossinidae includes tsetse flies (Glossina species), economically important as the vector of sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis).

In older literature, this group is often referred to as the Pupipara, in reference to the fact that, unlike virtually all other insects, most of the larval development takes place inside the mother's body, and pupation occurs almost immediately after "birth" – in essence, instead of laying eggs a female lays full-size pupae one at a time.

[edit] References

  • Borror, Donald J.; Charles A. Triplehorn, and Norman F. Johnson (1989). An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th ed., Philadelphia: Saunders College Pub. ISBN 0-03-025397-7. 

[edit] External links

Wikispecies has information related to:
This article related to members of the insect order Diptera (true flies) is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.