Endopterygota: Diptera & Siphonaptera





























Order Diptera
True flies
            Di – Two
            Ptera – wing
       Fourth largest order
       Soft bodied insects
       Body clothed with setae, bristles or hairs
       Pro- & Meta thorax small, fused with large mesothorax
       Forewings - large, hind wings reduced to knob like halteres
       Larvae called Maggots (apodous)
1.    Suborder Nematocera  (long antenna, eucephalous larvae)
2.    Suborder Brachycera  (Short antenna, hemicephalous larvae)
3.    Suborder Cyclorrhapha (Short aristate antenna,  acephalous larvae)
Family Culicidae    
Mosquitoes
       Very slender, delicate flies with plumose or pilose antenna
       Piercing & Sucking mouth parts & long legs
       Larvae – Wrigglers; Pupae – Tumblers
       Females – Blood sucking, males – nectar feeding
       Vectors of diseases
       Anopheles – Malaria; Culex – Filaria; Aedes – Yellow fever

Family Cecidomyiidae
Gall midges, gall flies, gall gnats
 Delicate, mosquito like
 Long legs and antenna
 Reduced wing venation
 Maggots produce swellings (galls) on plants.

Family Tipulidae
Crane flies
 Long legged with prominent head
 Fast runners on water, thus called water spiders

Family Simulidae
Black flies
 Hump backed
 Biting & Sucking mouth parts
 Maggots – aquatic
 Vectors of Onchocerciasis disease

Family Tabanidae
Horse flies
 Robust, bristle-less
 Large, brightly coloured eyes
 Holoptic in males, dicoptic in females
 Female – blood sucking, having cutting & sponging mouth parts
 Vector of “Anthrax”

Family Asilidae
Robber flies
 Elongate, hairy flies with long abdomen
 Proboscis adapted for piercing
 Strong legs
 Adults – on flight predators

Family Tephritidae
Fruit flies
 Spotted or banded wings
 Females with sharp ovipositor.

Family Muscidae
House flies
 Aristate antenna
 Sponging mouth parts
 Pretarsus with two claws and two sticky pads
 First abdominal segment – yellow in colour

Family Syrphidae
Hover flies or flower flies
 Brightly coloured or striped, hairy
 Resemble bees or wasps
 Vein like thickening in the forewing

Family Drosophilidae
Vinegar flies/Pomace flies
 Small, yellowish
 Red eyes
 Short life cycle (7 days)

Family Tachinidae
Tachinid flies
 Large, hairy flies
 Antennal arista without bristle
 Stout abdomen with large bristles
 Endoparasitic

Family Hippoboscidae
Cattle fly / dog fly / louse fly / sheep ked
 Flat, leathery, winged or wingless
 Head depressed inside prothorax
 Short, strong legs with strong claws. 
  •  Blood sucking ectoparasites on cattle and dog. 



Order Siphonaptera
Fleas
            Siphon – a tube
            Aptera – wingless
Small, ectoparasite on warm blooded animals including man
Vectors of bubonic or septicaemic plague (Black death)
Transfer of plague bacilli by rat flea to humans

Body sclerotized, laterally compressed
Piercing & sucking mouth parts
Compound eyes absent
Secondarily wingless
Coxa – enlarged, adapted for jumping



  
Order Trichoptera
Caddisflies, water moths
            Tricho – hair
            Ptera – wings
Small to medium sized, aquatic
Moth like, weak fliers
Vestigeal mandibles
Filiform antenna
Wings – membranous, hind wings broader

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Collection and preservation of insects

Insect wing, Modifications and Copulation

Insect Mouthpart and its modifications