Bat fly

Bat flies are members of the insect order Diptera, the true flies, which are external parasites of bats. Two families of flies are exclusively bat flies: Nycteribiidae and Streblidae.[1] Bat flies have a cosmopolitan distribution, meaning that they are found around the world.[2] Nycteribiidae and Streblidae are members of the superfamily Hippoboscoidea, along with the families Hippoboscidae and Glossinidae.[3] Another family the Mystacinobiidae with just one species Mystacinobia zelandica under the superfamily Oestroidea is unusual in feeding on the guano of bats in New Zealand. They are wingless, have reduced eyes, and are phoretic on bats.[4]

References

1. Bertola, Patrícia Beloto; Aires, Caroline Cotrim; Favorito, Sandra Elisa; Graciolli, Gustavo; Amaku, Marcos; Pinto-Da-Rocha, Ricardo (2005). "Bat flies (Diptera: Streblidae, Nycteribiidae) parasitic on bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) at Parque Estadual da Cantareira, São Paulo, Brazil: Parasitism rates and host-parasite associations". Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. 100 (1): 25–32. doi:10.1590/S0074-02762005000100005. PMID 15867959.
2. Morse, Solon F.; Olival, Kevin J.; Kosoy, Michael; Billeter, Sarah; Patterson, Bruce D.; Dick, Carl W.; Dittmar, Katharina (2012). "Global distribution and genetic diversity of Bartonella in bat flies (Hippoboscoidea, Streblidae, Nycteribiidae)". Infection, Genetics and Evolution. 12 (8): 1717–1723. doi:10.1016/j.meegid.2012.06.009. PMID 22771358.
3. Dick, Carl W. (2016). "Streblidae (Bat Flies)". Encyclopedia of Parasitology. pp. 2561–2564. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-43978-4_3463. ISBN 978-3-662-43977-7.
4. Gleeson, D. M.; Howitt, R. L. J.; Newcomb, R. D. (2000). "The phylogenetic position of the New Zealand batfly, Mystacinobia zelandica (Mystacinobiidae; Oestroidea) inferred from mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA sequence data". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 30 (2): 155–168. doi:10.1080/03014223.2000.9517615. ISSN 0303-6758.