#1288 - Hippoboscidae - Louse Fly
#1288 - Hippoboscidae - Louse Fly
A very interesting fly I IDed for Lynn Miller in Glenview, Queensland.
The louse flies, AKA keds are obligate parasites of warm-blooded animals, although they ignore humans for the most part. Many species are entirely wingless, and they are highly host-specific - the sheep ked, Melophagus ovinus, is a wingless, reddish-brown fly that parasitizes sheep, for example. One species, common in the SE US, is the Neotropical deer ked, Lipoptena mazamae - it comes in winged and wingless forms.
I think this one is an Ornithomya sp. a genera usually found on birds. Ornithomya fuscipennis is one of two hippoboscids commonly found on the tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) of Australia. Pseudolynchia canariensis is commonly found on pigeons and doves, and can act as a vector of pigeon malaria, but it’s not yet known if other species can be vectors for mammalian disease.
One aspect of the Hippoboscids even more remarkable than the rest of it is their reproduction - they bear a single young at a time, feeding it from milk-glands inside their body. The maggot isn’t ready to be born until it’s reached its final instar - in fact, they’re born in a prepuparium, that immediately hardens into a true pupa. This is a huge effort for the mother fly - her baby will often outweigh the parent.
Lynn was actually quite familiar with louse flies, on injured birds. She just hadn’t expected to see one on the wall of her greenhouse, far from any host.