Family NYCTERIBIIDAE Samouelle, 1819

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• Nycteribiidae Samouelle, 1819.

Introduction

The Nycteribiidae is a medium-sized family of flies that exist solely as parasites of various bat species. Their external morphology is bizarre, bearing closer resemblance to spiders than flies. They are wingless, and their body shape is strongly modified with their head and legs attached from the dorsal surface of the thorax. Both sexes feed on a blood meal from their host, and females are pupiparous. Collectively, along with the family Streblidae, these unusual flies are commonly known as the Bat Flies. Some 260 species in 13 genera have been described worldwide. The Australian fauna includes 7 genera represented by 29 species (and 4 subspecies).

Important taxonomic works on this family include Theodor's 1967 world revision of the Nycteribiidae, Maa (1962; species descriptions) and Maa (1971; revision of the Australian fauna).

General References

Maa, T.C. 1962. Records and descriptions of Nycteribiidae and Streblidae (Diptera). Pacific Insects 4: 417-436 [Date published 30 July]

Maa, T.C. 1971. Studies in batflies (Diptera: Streblidae; Nycteribiidae). Part 1. Revision of the Australian batflies (Diptera: Streblidae and Nycteribiidae). Pacific Insects Monographs 28: 1-118 [Date published 20 June]

Maa, T.C. 1996. Family Nycteribiidae. In Evenhuis, N.L.(ed.) Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian Regions. online version last updated 2 September 1996. http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/aocat/nyct.html

Theodor, O. 1967. An illustrated catalogue of the Rothschild collection of Nycteribiidae (Diptera) in the British Museum (Natural History) with keys and short descriptions for the identification of subfamilies, genera, species and subspecies. London : British Museum (Natural History) viii + 506 pp. [Date published June]

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