Hippoboscoidea is a superfamily of the

Calyptratae Calyptratae is a subsection of Schizophora in the insect order Diptera, commonly referred to as the calyptrate muscoids (or simply calyptrates). It consists of those flies which possess a calypter that covers the halteres, among which are some ...

. The flies in this superfamily are blood-feeding obligate

parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

s of their hosts. Four

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

are often placed here: * Glossinidae - Tsetse flies *

Hippoboscidae __NOTOC__ Hippoboscidae, the louse flies or keds, are obligate parasites of mammals and birds. In this family, the winged species can fly at least reasonably well, though others with vestigial or no wings are flightless and highly apomorphic. As ...

- Ked flies *

Nycteribiidae Nycteribiidae is a family of the true fly superfamily Hippoboscoidea. Together with their close relatives the Streblidae, they are known as "bat flies". As the latter do not seem to be a monophyletic group, it is conceivable that bat flies ca ...

- Bat flies *

Streblidae The Streblidae are a Family (biology), family of fly, flies in the Taxonomic rank, superfamily Hippoboscoidea, and together with their relatives the Nycteribiidae, are known as bat flies. They are winged or wingless ectoparasites of bats, and oft ...

- Bat flies (Note that the Mystacinobiidae, while also a bat fly, belongs to the superfamily

Oestroidea Oestroidea is a superfamily (zoology), superfamily of Calyptratae that includes the Calliphoridae, blow flies, bot flies, flesh flies, and their relatives. It occurs worldwide and has about 15,000 described species. Evolution and phylogeny The ...

). The

are commonly called louse flies or ked flies. The bat flies are

and

(along with Mystacinobiidae); the Streblidae are probably not

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

. The family Glossinidae,

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

as to

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

, contains the tsetse flies, economically important as the vectors of trypanosomiasis. The enigmatic Mormotomyiidae are believed to belong to the Ephydroidea and not to Hippoboscoidea as previously construed. In older literature, this group is often referred to as the Pupipara ("

pupa A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages th ...

-bearers"), because, 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-sized pupae one at a time. In the strict sense, the Pupipara only encompass the Hippoboscidae, Nycteribiidae, and "Streblidae", which in older works were all included in the Hippoboscidae.

Development

Species of the Hippoboscoidea do not lay eggs. Instead, the larvae hatch ''in utero'', are fed internally by "milk glands," and pass through three morphological stages before being deposited to pupate. This type of reproduction is termed as adenotrophic viviparity.Krafsur, E. S. "Tsetse flies: genetics, evolution, and role as vectors." Infection, Genetics and Evolution 9.1 (2009): 124-141.

Development

References

Further reading