Hippoboscidae

Hippoboscidae [‚hip·ə′bäs·kə‚dē]

(invertebrate zoology)

The louse flies, a family of cyclorrhaphous dipteran insects in the section Pupipara.

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Hippoboscidae 

(louse flies), a family of dipterous insects, distributed throughout the world. In their sexually mature stage the Hippoboscidae are parasites of warm-blooded animals. Of the 21 genera, 16 parasitize birds (eight in the USSR) and five parasitize mammals (three in the USSR). To date, the role of hippoboscids in the spread of diseases has been little studied. Hippoboscid parasites of mammals include winged species whose wings break off after becoming established on the host (the genus Lipoptena —for example, the deer lousefly) and wingless species (the genus Melophagus —for example, the sheep ked). The females give birth to several larvae, one at a time over intervals of considerable length. When the larvae are born, they have matured for pupation (they develop in the female’s abdomen in a womblike widening of the oviduct, into which opens a pair of glands that secrete a nutritive fluid).

REFERENCES

Grunin, K. la. “Semeistvo Hippoboscidae—Krovososki.” In OpredeliteV nasekomykh Evropeiskoi chasti SSSR, vol. 5, part 2. Leningrad, 1970.
Zhizn— zhivotnykh, vol. 3. Moscow, 1969.