Other Biting FliesOther Biting Flies

Horse-flies, Tsetse-flies, House-flies Horse-flies, Tsetse-flies, House-flies and Stable-fliesand Stable-flies

Family: TabanidaeFamily: Tabanidae(Horse-flies and Deer-flies)(Horse-flies and Deer-flies)

• Tabanus atratus • Tabanus nigrovittatus • Chrysops atlanticus

• Large biting flies (65 mm wing)

• Over 4300 species

• Worldwide distribution.

• Medium to large (6-30 mm)

• Antennae are small but stout

• Mouthparts adapted for biting, hang downwards from head.

Life HistoryLife History

• Tend to lay eggs near larvarial substrate.

• Some larvae are predacious

• Life cycle– Eggs Larvae Pupae Adult– Most inhabit woods and forest

Feeding HabitsFeeding Habits

• Bite is painful

• Most feed during the daytime, locate host by site and CO2.

• Several small meals often taken from the same or different host.

• Interrupted feeding behavior increases their likelihood of being mechanical vectors of disease.

• Prefer dark objects, will bite through colored clothing.

Biological TransmissionBiological Transmission

• Loiasis (loa loa)• Chrysops species are the biological vectors.

– Microfilaria picked up in blood during day.– Develop in thoracic fat bodies of the deer fly.– Worms leave the proboscis when deer fly

feeds.

• Human strain of Loiasis

• Monkey strain of Loiasis

Biological TransmissionBiological Transmission• Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis)

• Tularaemia – from rabbits, horses and other rodents to humans.

• Tabanids can transmit viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and filarial worms to livestock

• Also big pest nuisance.

• Some people develop allergic reaction.

• Control: Insect repellents.

Family: GlossinidaeFamily: Glossinidae(Tsetse-flies)(Tsetse-flies)

• Restricted to sub-Saharan Africa.

• Vector:

• Parasite:

• Reservoir:

Life HistoryLife History

• Egg Larvae Pupae Adult– Egg completes maturation in ovary – Larvae goes through 3 instars in the female – Larviposition in shaded areas.– Larvae bury itself in soil and pupates.– Pupal stage is long.

• Adults spend day resting on vegitation or dark humid sites. (Twigs, branches, tree trunks)

Feeding HabitsFeeding Habits

• Both male and females blood feed on humans, wild and domesticated animals, as well as reptiles and amphibians.

• Feed in dry-hot weather, cooler weather they feed every 10 days.

• Vision is important in host location.

• Females must take several bloodmeals to feed larvae.

• Many species rarely feed on people.

Medical ImportanceMedical Importance• “African Sleeping Sickness”• 400,000 cases a year with 55,000 deaths.

ControlMost control aimed at adults.

- Clearing away vegetation (resting sites)

- Kill of game animals (reservoir), no longer acceptable!

- Insecticides

- Targets and traps

- Genetic

Personal protection.

““The Higher Diptera”The Higher Diptera”

• Suborder Cyclorrhapha:– Larvae are maggots or grubs (no distinct head

capsule)– Pupa is encased in final larval stage called puparium

• Families:– Muscidae– Calliphoridae– Sarcophagidae – Cuterebridae – Oestridae

““The Higher Diptera”The Higher Diptera”

• Importance:– (1) Annoyance– (2) Disease Transmission– (3) Myiasis

(1) Annoyance(1) Annoyance

• Synanthropic

• Various species:– Musca domestica– Fannia canicularis– Musca stabulans– Stomoxys calcitrans

• Several generations each year!

(2) Transmit Pathogens(2) Transmit Pathogens

• Diseases transmitted mechanically.

• Pathogens of bacillary dysentery: – Shigella and Salmonella

– Vomit on food when feeding

• Look at a fly close up:– Lots of hairs– Sticky pads

Family: MuscidaeFamily: Muscidae(House-flies and Stable-flies)(House-flies and Stable-flies)

• Musca domestica

• Mechanical transmission of pathogens, accidental myiasis.

• Stomoxys calcitrans • biting pest (human and

veterinary pest)

House-Flies

•Non-biting mouthparts

House FlyHouse Fly

• Can transmit a large number of diseases to humans.

• Over 100 different pathogens have been recorded from house flies, 65 of them are transmitted!

• Some diseases they can transmit:– Viruses: Polio, coxsackie, and infectious hepatitis

– Rickettsiae: Q fever

– Bacteria: anthrax, cholera, shigella and salmonella species, E. coli, staph. Aureus, trachoma, spirochaetes of yaws.

– Protozoans: Entamoeba, Cryptosporidium, and Giardia.

– Helminths: various eggs; Ascaris, tapes, Trichuris

– Dermatobia hominis: a myiasis-producing fly.

Life CycleLife Cycle

• Egg Larvae Pupa Adult.

• This life cycle is typical of other muscid and calliphorid flies.

• Seasonal abundance of house flies

House Fly ControlHouse Fly Control

(1) Physical and Mechanical Control- Screening windows, openings, air vents, etc.

- Air barriers (doorways)

- Sticky tapes (fly-papers)

(2) Environmental Sanitation

- Reduce breeding places (garbage and refuse removal)

(3) Insecticide Control

- Larvicides

- Spraying against adults

- Residual spraying

- Insecticidal cords

- Toxic baits

Stable-Flies• Both male and females take

blood meals from wild and domestic animals.

• Not known to transmit any diseases to humans – annoyance to animals and man.

• Get rid of manure, spray breeding places with insecticides, fly strips.

Biting mouthparts

Important Fly Pests of Humans and Animals in North America