17 - Louse Flies, Keds, and Related Flies (Hippoboscoidea)

Abstract

The members of Hippoboscidae family are called louse flies, bird flies, feather flies, spider flies, flat flies, tick flies, ked flies, and keds. These are obligate, blood-feeding ectoprarasites. The Hippoboscidae, Streblidae, and Nycteribiidae represent three families of the superfamily Hippoboscoidea. There are approximately 19 genera and 150 described species in the family Hippoboscidae. All members of the Hippoboscoidea are morphologically adapted for an ectoparasitic existence among the hairs or feathers of their hosts. Certain parts of the exoskeleton have become modified, mainly by fusion and reduction or atrophy, in response to permanent ectoparasitism. The Hippoboscoidea are larviparous. They exhibit a form of viviparity called “adenotrophic viviparity.” Both sexes of Hippoboscoid fly feed as ectoparasites on the blood of birds or mammals. Host specificity varies considerably among different groups. The sheep ked transmits Trypanosoma mdophagium, a nonpathogenic flagellate protozoan of sheep that are present wherever ked-infested sheep are found. Several hippoboscid flies have been identified as vectors of Haemoproteus species, haemosporidian blood parasites that cause bird malarias. The few species that affect domestic animals and birds are controlled through treatment of the host with insecticide formulations.