CHAPTER IV 



SECTION 2 



THE ORDER DIPTERA; THE PUPIPARA 



Small to moderately large flies, with integument of a leathery consistence. 

 All the species are ectoparasites of warm-blooded vertebrates. The eggs 

 hatch out in the body of the female fly and the larvae are nourished by 

 special glands, and when fully mature are deposited on the ground or /// 

 the abodes of their hosts. 



The Pupipara represent a remarkable group of flies whose structure 

 has become greatly modified in accordance with their parasitic habits; 

 unlike other Diptera, they cling to their hosts, crawling in between hairs 

 or feathers. Those forms with wings never fly long distances, but 

 merely use them to pass from one part of the body of the host to 

 another, or to fly from one host to another close by. In some species, 

 though the wings are well developed at one stage, they are subsequently 

 shed ; in others they are either rudimentary or entirely wanting. The 

 legs, on the other hand, are highly developed ; they may be short and 

 stout, or long and slender ; the claws are always specially adapted for 

 clinging and may be denticulated and armed with accessory spurs. Their 

 bodies are more or less compressed dorso-ventrally, a modification well 

 adapted to their parasitic habits ; they are often furnished with spines 

 and ctenidia. The abdomen is as a rule indistinctly segmented and of a 

 leathery consistence. Except for Braula coeca, which is a minute insect 

 living on bees, all the species feed on the blood of their hosts. 



WILLISTON'S KEY TO THE FAMILIES OF THE PUPIPARA 



1. Wingless flies, parasitic upon bats; head folding back on the 



dorsum of the thorax . ...,;._ Nycteribiidae. 

 Winged or wingless flies, parasitic on birds or mammals ; head 



not folded back upon dorsum of thorax ....... 2 



2. Antennae reduced ; wings with distinct parallel veins and 



outer cross-veins when present ; claws simple ; palpi leaf- 

 like, projecting in front of the head ; almost exclusively 



parasitic on bats St reblidae. 



Antennae usually more elongate, the joints more or less 

 distinctly separated ; head sunk into an emargination of the 



