Nycteribiidae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Panorpida
Cladus: Antliophora
Ordo: Diptera
Subordo: Brachycera
Infraordo: Muscomorpha
Sectio: Schizophora
Subsectio: Calyptratae
Superfamilia: Hippoboscoidea
Familia: Nycteribiidae

Subfamiliae (3): Archinycteribiinae - Cyclopodiinae - Nycteribiinae

Genera:
Name

Nycteribiidae
References

Graciolli, G., Dick, C.W. & Guerrero, R. 2016. FAMILY NYCTERIBIIDAE. In Wolff, M.I., Nihei, S.S. & Carvalho, C.J.B. de (eds.), Catalogue of Diptera of Colombia. Zootaxa 4122(1): 780–783. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4122.1.66. Reference page.

Petersen, F.T.; Meier, R.; Kutty, S.N.; Wiegmann, B.M. 2007: The phylogeny and evolution of host choice in the Hippoboscoidea (Diptera) as reconstructed using four molecular markers. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 45(1): 111–122. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2007.04.023

Nycteribiidae is a family of the true fly superfamily Hippoboscoidea are known as "bat flies", together with their close relatives the Streblidae. As the latter do not seem to be a monophyletic group, it is conceivable not to unite all bat flies in a single family.[1]

They are flattened, spiderlike flies without eyes or wings, and as such bear very little resemblance to other Dipterans. These flies are seldom encountered by general collectors, as they almost never leave the bodies of their hosts. Both males and females take blood meals, thus they qualify as real parasites. Most species are highly host-specific. The family is primarily found in the Old World tropics; a few of the 274[2] known species occur in the Neotropics and in Europe.

Genera

Subfamily Archinycteribiinae Maa, 1975

Archinycteribia Speiser, 1901

Subfamily Cyclopodiinae Maa, 1965

Cyclopodia Kolenati, 1863
Dipseliopoda Theodor, 1955
Eucampsipoda Kolenati, 1857
Leptocyclopodia Theodor, 1959

Subfamily Nycteribiinae Westwood, 1835

Basilia Miranda Ribeiro, 1903
Hershkovitzia Guimarães & d'Andretta, 1956
Nycteribia Latreille, 1796
Penicillidia Kolenati, 1863
Phthiridium Hermann, 1804
Stereomyia Theodor, 1967[2]
Stylidia Westwood, 1840

Morphology

One of the key morphological features of Nycteribiidae is their highly reduced compound eyes. Many species of Nycteribiidae contain no visible eyes or contain only rudimentary eye spots. None of the species contain wings. They have backward folded legs that resemble those of spiders and a dorsally inserted head.[3]
References

Frederik Torp Petersen; Rudolf Meier; Sujatha Narayanan Kutty; Brian M. Wiegmann (2007). "The phylogeny and evolution of host choice in the Hippoboscoidea (Diptera) as reconstructed using four molecular markers". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 45 (1): 111–122. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.04.023. PMID 17583536.
Gustavo Graciolli & Carl W. Dick (October 22, 2008). "Checklist of World Nycteribiidae (Diptera: Hippoboscoidea)" (PDF). Field Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 13, 2012. Retrieved December 10, 2008.

Kirk-Spriggs, Ashley H., Marion Kotrba, and Robert S. Copeland. "Further details of the morphology of the enigmatic African fly Mormotomyia hirsuta Austen (Diptera: Mormotomyiidae)." African Invertebrates 52.1 (2011): 145-165.

Further reading

Dick, C. W., & Patterson, B. D. (2006). Bat flies: obligate ectoparasites of bats. In Micromammals and macroparasites. Tokyo: Springer. pp. 179–194. doi:10.1007/978-4-431-36025-4_11.
Bertola, P.B.; Aires, C.C.; Favorito, S.E.; Graciolli, G.; Amaku, M. & Pinto-da-Rocha, R. (2005). "Bat flies (Diptera: Streblidae, Nycteribiidae) parasitic on bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) at Parque Estadual da Cantareira, São Paulo, Brazil: parasitism rates and host-parasite associations" (PDF). Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. 100 (1): 25–32. doi:10.1590/S0074-02762005000100005. PMID 15867959.
Graciolli, G. & Moura, M.O. (2005). "Basilia quadrosae sp. nov. (Diptera: Nycteribiidae), member of the ferruginea group, from southern Brazil" (PDF excerpt). Zootaxa. 1087: 33–38. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1087.1.2.
Graciolli, G.; Passos, F.C.; Pedro, W.A. & Lim, B.K. (200). "Records of Streblidae and Nycteribiidae (Diptera) on vespertilionid bats (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from São Paulo State, Brazil". Journal of the New York Entomological Society. 110 (3): 402–404. doi:10.1664/0028-7199(2002)110[402:ROSAND]2.0.CO;2. HTML abstract
Graciolli, G.; Dick, C.W. & Gettinger, D. (2006). "A faunal survey of nycteribiid flies (Diptera: Nycteribiidae) associated with bats in Paraguay" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1220: 35–46. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1220.1.3.[permanent dead link]
Graciolli, G.; Autino, A.G. & Claps, G.L. (2007). "Catalogue of American Nycteribiidae (Diptera, Hippoboscoidea)" (PDF). Revista Brasileira de Entomologia. 51 (2): 142–159. doi:10.1590/S0085-56262007000200004.
Haelewaters, D., Pfliegler, W. P., Szentiványi, T., Földvári, M., Sándor, A. D., Barti, L., ... & Dick, C. W. (2017). "Parasites of parasites of bats: Laboulbeniales (Fungi: Ascomycota) on bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiidae) in central Europe". Parasites & Vectors. 10 (1): 96. doi:10.1186/s13071-017-2022-y. PMC 5320862. PMID 28222795.
Szentiványi T., Estók P., Földvári M. (2016). "Checklist of host associations of European bat flies (Diptera: Nycteribiidae, Streblidae)". Zootaxa. 4205 (2): 101–126. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4205.2.1. PMID 27988583.