The Streblidae are a
family of
flies in the
superfamilyHippoboscoidea, and together with their relatives the
Nycteribiidae, are known as bat flies. They are winged or wingless
ectoparasites of
bats, and often have long legs. They appear to be host-specific, with different
species 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
species are divided among roughly 33
genera and five
subfamilies. 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
Nycteribiidae. Several authors favor splitting the family into an
Old World lineage consisting of the
Ascodipterinae and
Nycteriboscinae and a
New World 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 family containing all bat flies.[1]
Subfamilies are here listed in presumed order of most ancient to most recently
evolved. Selected
genera are also given, sorted alphabetically, as too little is known about their interrelationships.
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.
^Petersen, Frederik Torp; Meier, Rudolf; Kutty, Sujatha Narayanan & Wiegmann, Brian M. (2007). "The phylogeny and evolution of host choice in the Hippoboscoidea (Diptera) as reconstructed using four molecular markers". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 45 (1). The Netherlands: Elsevier: 111–122.
doi:
10.1016/j.ympev.2007.04.023.
ISSN1055-7903.
PMID17583536.
Fritz, G.N. (1983). "Biology and ecology of bat flies (Diptera: Streblidae) on bats in the genus Carollia". Journal of Medical Entomology. 20 (1): 1–10.
doi:
10.1093/jmedent/20.1.1.
PMID6827567.