Why do dipterans that feed on blood need the blood?
To lay eggs
T/F Male dipterans take blood meal
F
Females
Smallest blood feeding dipterans
Biting gnats
Why are dipterans so important?
Involved more often in transmission of human and animal pathogens than any group of arthropod.
Serve as IM host for protozoans
Serve as vectors for viruses
Myiasis
IMPORTANT
Larval stages of dipterans develop in organs and tissues of humans and animals.
T/F Black fly have long pair of wings
F
Short, knobbed wings called halteres that help with balance.
T/F Black flies have complex metamorphosis
T
Simulium spp
- Host
- Habitat
- Flier
- Blood feeders of humans, LA, and wild animals
- Near flowing streams
- STRONG flier
Black fly genus
Simulium
How to ID Simulium spp
Thorax has prominent bump “buffalo gnat”
Bite HURTS-serrated mandible
Fingerprint of black fly
Wings
WIWPHTH black fly
Produce toxins in saliva
Black fly zoonotic?
No
Old world sand flies
Phlebotomus spp
- Africa
- Middle East
New world sand flies
Lutzomyia spp
-Central/S America
Phlebotomus spp include
phlebotomine sand flies
Phlebotomous spp
- Host
- Habitat
- Flier
- Warm blooded vertebrates
- Nocturnal periodic parasites (hide in rodent burrows during day)
- Weak flier
ID sand fly
Hairy wings
Importance of phleobotomine sand fly
IM host for protozoans
-Can cause cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis
Vector for viral and bacterial disease
Reservoir hosts for Leishmania spp
Rodents
WIWPHTH phelobotomine Sand fly
Intermediate host for visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis
Culicoides spp
Biting midges
Culicoides
- Host
- Habitat
- Warm blooded animals
- Aquatic/water areas
ID Culicoides spp
Small slender gnats
Buffalo humped thorax
Wings are mottled/spotted and fine hairs
