The Polyctenidae are a rarely collected

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ent ...

bugs of the superfamily

Cimicoidea Cimicoidea is a superfamily of insects belonging to the infraorder Cimicomorpha, including Cimex, bedbugs and related families. References

Cimicomorpha Hemiptera superfamilies {{Cimicomorpha-stub ...

. Polyctenidae species or bat bugs are obligate,

hematophagous Hematophagy (sometimes spelled haematophagy or hematophagia) is the practice by certain animals of feeding on blood (from the Greek words αἷμα ' "blood" and φαγεῖν ' "to eat"). Since blood is a fluid tissue rich in nutritious pr ...

ectoparasites Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The en ...

bat Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

s. These insects are not to be confused with cimicid bat bugs, which are members of the family

Cimicidae The Cimicidae are a Biological classification, family of small parasitic Hemiptera, bugs that hematophagy, feed exclusively on the blood of homeothermic, warm-blooded animals. They are called cimicids or, loosely, bed bugs, though the latter te ...

. A significant relationship appears to occur between the family groups and the species of hosts that indicates co-evolution and specialization. Polyctenidae and

are considered to be

sister taxa In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

. There are currently 32 species of polyctenid bat bugs recognized worldwide belonging to two subfamilies and five genera. Polyctenidae species occur both in the

Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...

(subfamily Polycteninae) and

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

(subfamily Hesperocteninae).

Subtaxa

Subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Polycteninae: **

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 ...

'' Adroctenes'' ***'' Adroctenes horvathi'' ***'' Adroctenes jordani'' ***'' Adroctenes magnus'' **

'' Eoctenes'' ***'' Eoctenes intermedius'' ***'' Eoctenes spasmae'' ***'' Eoctenes sinae'' ***'' Eoctenes ferrisi'' ***'' Eoctenes maai'' ***'' Eoctenes nycteridis'' ***'' Eoctenes coleurae'' **

'' Hypoctenes'' ***'' Hypoctenes petiolatus'' ***'' Hypoctenes quadratus'' ***'' Hypoctenes hutsoni'' ***'' Hypoctenes clarus'' ***'' Hypoctenes faini'' **

'' Polyctenes'' ***'' Polyctenes molossus'' *

Hesperocteninae: **

References

Cimicomorpha Parasitic bugs Parasites of bats Heteroptera families {{Cimicomorpha-stub