The Streblidae are a

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 ...

flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...

in the superfamily

Hippoboscoidea Hippoboscoidea is a superfamily (zoology), superfamily of the Calyptratae. The flies in this superfamily are blood-feeding obligate parasites of their hosts. Four family (biology), families are often placed here: *Glossinidae - Tsetse fly, Tsets ...

, and together with their relatives the

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 ...

, are known as bat flies. They are winged or wingless

ectoparasite 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

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, and often have long legs. They appear to be host-specific, with different

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of bat flies occurring only on particular species of bat hosts, sometimes with multiple species of flies sharing a host bat.

Systematics

The 237 or so

are divided among roughly 33

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

and five

subfamilies 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 zool ...

. The monophyly of this family has not been supported. The streblid subfamily Trichobiinae may be more closely related to the Nycteriboscinae and other lineages in the

. Several authors favor splitting the family into an

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 ...

lineage consisting of the Ascodipterinae and Nycteriboscinae and a

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: ...

lineage containing all other subfamilies. The former would be named Ascodipterinae and the latter would retain the name Streblidae. Alternatively, the Streblidae and Nycteribiidae might be united as a

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 ...

family containing all bat flies. Subfamilies are here listed in presumed order of most ancient to most recently

evolved Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

. Selected

are also given, sorted alphabetically, as too little is known about their interrelationships. Enischnomyia with Vetufebrus 1

* Subfamily Brachytarsininae Speiser 1900 (sometimes Nycteriboscinae) :*Genus '' Brachytarsina'' Macquart, 1851 :*Genus '' Megastrebla'' Maa, 1971 ::*Subgenus '' Aoroura'' ::*Subgenus '' Megastrebla'' Maa, 1971 :*Genus '' Raymondia'' Frauenfeld, 1855 :*Genus '' Raymondiodes'' Jobling, 1954 * Subfamily Ascodipterinae Monticelli 1898 :*Genus '' Ascodipteron'' Adensamer, 1896 :*Genus '' Maabella'' Hastriter & Bush, 2006 :*Genus '' Paraascodipteron'' Advani & Vazirani, 1981 * Subfamily Nycterophiliinae Wenzel, 1966 :*Genus '' Nycterophilia'' Ferris, 1916 :*Genus '' Phalconomus'' Wenzel, 1984 * Subfamily Streblinae Speiser, 1900 :*Genus '' Anastrebla'' Wenzel, 1966 :*Genus '' Metelasmus'' Coquillett, 1907 :*Genus '' Paraeuctenodes'' Pessôa & Guimarães, 1937 :*Genus '' Strebla'' Wiedemann, 1824 * Subfamily Trichobiinae Jobling, 1936 :*Genus '' Anatrichobius'' Wenzel, 1966 :*Genus '' Aspidoptera'' Coquillett, 1899 :*Genus '' Eldunnia'' Curran, 1934 :*Genus '' Exastinion'' Wenzel, 1966 :*Genus '' Joblingia'' Dybas & Wenzel, 1947 :*Genus '' Mastoptera'' Wenzel, 1966 :*Genus '' Megistopoda'' Macquart, 1852 :*Genus '' Megistapophysis'' Dick & Wenzel, 2006 :*Genus '' Neotrichobius'' Wenzel & Aitken, 1966 :*Genus '' Noctiliostrebla'' Wenzel, 1966 :*Genus '' Paradyschiria'' Speiser, 1900 :*Genus '' Parastrebla'' Wenzel, 1966 :*Genus '' Paratrichobius'' Costa Lima, 1921 :*Genus '' Pseudostrebla'' Costa Lima, 1921 :*Genus '' Speiseria'' Kessel, 1925 :*Genus '' Stizostrebla'' Jobling, 1939 :*Genus '' Synthesiostrebla'' Townsend, 1913 :*Genus '' Trichobioides'' Wenzel, 1966 :*Genus '' Trichobius'' Gervais, 1844 :*Genus '' Xenotrichobius'' Wenzel, 1976 * Subfamily ''incertae sedis'' :*†'' Enischnomyia'' Poinar & Brown, 2012

Morphology

One of the characteristic feature of streblid bat flies is their variable degree of eye reduction. The compound eyes are highly, but variably reduced, with some species containing only rudimentary eye spots. Ocelli are absent in all species. Wing morphology also significantly varies within the family with some species containing fully functional wings, while others contain either reduced (non functional or functional) wings or no wings at all.

Parasites

Streblid bat flies, which are

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, are themselves infested by

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

of the order Laboulbeniales; these fungi are thus

hyperparasite A hyperparasite, also known as a metaparasite, is a parasite whose host, often an insect, is also a parasite, often specifically a parasitoid. Hyperparasites are found mainly among the wasp-waisted Apocrita within the Hymenoptera, and in two ot ...

Systematics

Morphology

Parasites

References

Further reading