Phylogeny of the Oestridae

Abstract

It may be assumed that the ancestral stock from which the Oestridae evolved should present the following characters: pilosity undeveloped; reduced chaetotaxy; eyes and antennae of normal size; antennal fovea shallow, without a median carina; reduced mouthparts; postscutellum undeveloped; wings with cell R₅ open and M₂ present as a stump vein. As to the larvae, the 1st stage should be spindle-shaped, the body segments covered by several rows of spines, the arrangement of these rows being almost identical on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the body; the posterior spiracle was a porous plate.