in their burrows, and males, under boards or in other protected places. Winter is 
spent as young adults in their tunnels. There is one generation per year. 
Living bees in tunnels can be killed by running a stiff wire all the way to the end 
of the tunnel. 
One other species of carpenter bee, X. micans Lepeletier, also occurs in the 
Eastern United States from North Carolina to Florida and westward along the Gulf 
Coast. 
Order Diptera—Flies 
The Diptera constitutes one of the largest orders of insects. The majority of 
species differ from other insects to which the term “fly” is applied, such as the 
sawflies, stoneflies, and the dragonflies, by the fact that they posses only one pair 
of wings, the forewings. Their hindwings are reduced to small knobbed structures 
called halteres. The majority of species are soft-bodied and small to minute in size. 
The larvae, commonly known as maggots, are legless, and vary in form from 
slender and elongate to stout and cylindrical. The pupae may be free, loosely 
enclosed, or held immobile in the last larval skin. In the latter case it is known as a 
puparium. 
Many species of Diptera are destructive pests and are of great economic impor 
tance. Bloodsucking forms such as the mosquitoes, black flies, punkies, and horse 
flies are serious pests of animals, including humans. Some of these as well as some 
of the scavenger species, such as the house fly, are important vectors of the 
causative organisms of such serious diseases as malaria, yellow fever, filariasis, 
dengue, sleeping sickness, and dysentery. A number of others are important pests 
of agricultural crops, a few are pests of trees and ornamental plants, and many are 
important parasites or predators of injurious species of insects. 
Several native and introduced species are highly effective parasites of some of 
our most destructive tree-defoliating insects, especially of the order Lepidoptera. A 
few aquatic species, some of which are nuisance pests in the adult stage, are 
economically important as fish food in the larval stage. 
Several comprehensive treatments of the order Diptera have been published (/65, 
273, 11975, 1192 413513). 
Families Oestridae and Cuterebridae 
Bot and Warble Flies 
Bot and warble flies are endoparasites of animals, and several are serious 
economic pests. They are best known as enemies of domestic animals, but many 
species also attack various wild animals. The adults are medium- to large-size flies 
resembling bees. Members of the genus Cephenemyia intest the nasopharyngeal 
region of deer, moose, elk, caribou, and reindeer. The northern cattle grub, 
Hypoderma bovis (L.), and the common cattle grub, H. /ineatum (Villers), are 
subcutaneous parasites of cattle, causing serious damage to the tissue and hides. 
The genus Cuterebra contains a large number of species that are subcutaneous 
parasites of various rodents and lagomorphs. 
Family Culicidae 
Mosquitoes 
Mosquitoes are important pests of people and other animals. Not only are their 
bites extremely annoying, but they transmit many of the most serious diseases of 
humans and other animals, such as malaria, dengue, yellow fever, and encephalitis 
(431). As nuisances, they often seriously interfere with public enjoyment of parks, 
vacation sites, and other recreational areas. Woods workers, fishers, hunters, 
440 
