CLASS INSECTA- Order Diptera (Family Simuulidae)

Question 1

Family Simuulidae- Buffalo gnats, Blackfly

Answer 1

✓ aquatic development
✓ immobile pupa
✓ larva hatches with the aid of egg burster
✓ male have holoptic eye, females are dioptic
✓ mouthpart has sensory vesicle (lutz’s organ)
✓ 1-4 mm long
✓ bristles on prominent anterior wing vein
✓ diurnal
✓ eggs laid on plants and stones just below water surface
✓ larvae require highly oxygenated water to survive

Question 2

Simuulidae- Pathogenic effects

Answer 2

✓ painful bites with vesicle lesions
✓ transmit;
- eastern equine encephalitis in horses
- vesicular stomatitis in cattle
- tularemia in cattle
✓ intermediate host of;
- Leucocytozoom anatis/simondi in ducks
- L. smithi in turkeys
- Haemoproteus nettionis in ducks and geese
-Onchocerca gutturosa in cattle, O. volvulus in human and O. cervicalis in horse