Louse Flies

Synonyms

Hippoboscidae; Keds.

These flies received their trivial name from people’s observation that they live like true lice in the hair of their hosts after having infested a host and discarded their two wings. Their thorax is equipped with strong legs armed with thick claws. The horse louse fly Hippobosca equina reaching a length of 8 mm preserves its wings. The deer louse fly Lipoptena cervi , which measures 3–5 mm in length, keeps the wings as males, while females lose them. The sheep louse fly Melophagus ovinus(~5 mm long), which is also erroneously named “sheep tick”, has in both sexes completely reduced wings and is transmitted during body contacts. Both sexes suck blood on the surface of their hosts. Their bites are painful and lead to loss of body weight of the hosts and hair loss. Females discharge already larvae 3, which start pupation during the next 10 h. The pupal cocoon appears reddish brown and is glued to the hair. During their life span of about 4–7 months, females...