Oestridae

Sheep bot fly Oestrus ovis, photographed by terraincognita96.

Belongs within: Oestroidea.
Contains: Gasterophilinae.

The Oestridae, bot flies, are large flies whose larvae are parasitic on mammals. Larvae of Cuterebrinae and Hypodermatinae occupy a subdermal position in their host whereas Oestrinae infest the naso-pharyngeal area and Gasterophilinae are intestinal. The Cuterebrinae are found only in the New World and are parasites of rodents and lagomorphs, with the exception of the African elephant parasites Ruttenia loxodontis and Neocuterebra squamosa whose affinities are uncertain. The Oestrinae mostly attack artiodactyls with some species parasitising equids, elephants and kangaroos. The Hypodermatinae include parasites of artiodactyls, rodents and lagomorphs (Wood 1987).

Characters (from Pape 2010): Large, robust flies (body length 15-25 mm) with reduced mouthparts and body clothed with pilelike setosity. Body colour blackish, yellowish or metallic blue. Antenna usually short. Arista bare, pectinate or plumose. Vein M either almost straight or weakly to strongly bent, vein R₁ without knob at level where subcosta joins costa. Legs short and stout, or slender. Abdomen globose or elongate oval. Male terminalia with small and simple sternite 5, cerci and surstyli relatively unmodified or shortened, phallus short and stout, with or without epiphallus.

<==Oestridae [Oestrini]
    |--Cuterebrinae [Cuterebridae] KP10
    |    |--Dermatobia hominis W87, P10
    |    |--Alouattamyia W87
    |    |--Pseudogametes W87
    |    |--Rogenhofera W87
    |    |--Ruttenia loxodontis W87
    |    |--Neocuterebra squamosa W87
    |    `--Cuterebra P10
    |         |--C. angustifrons A71
    |         |--C. austeni SC19
    |         |--C. baeri Shannon & Greene 1926 KP10
    |         |--C. emasculator P10
    |         |--C. fontinella MBJ83
    |         |--C. grisea W87
    |         |--C. hassleri P10
    |         |--C. latifrons A71
    |         |--C. semiatra P10
    |         |--C. tenebrosa P10
    |         `--C. thomomuris Jellison 1949 S69
    `--+--Gasterophilidae [Gasterophiloidea] F92
       |    |--Gasterophilinae KP10
       |    `--Cobboldia Brauer 1887 [Cobboldiidae, Cobboldiinae] F92
       |         `--C. elephantis (Steel 1878) F92
       `--+--Oestrinae [Pharyngobolinae, Tracheomyiinae] W87
          |    |--Kirkioestrus W87
          |    |--Gedoelstia W87
          |    |--Pharyngobolus africanus W87
          |    |--Tracheomyia macropi Froggatt 1913 A71, M64
          |    |--Cephalopina Stand 1928 F92
          |    |    `--C. titillator (Clark 1816) CM91, F92 (see below for synonymy)
          |    |--Rhinoestrus Brauer 1886 F92
          |    |    |--*R. purpureus (Brauer 1858) [=Cephalomyia purpurea] F92
          |    |    |--R. latifrons Gan 1947 F92
          |    |    `--R. usbekistanicus Gan 1947 F92
          |    `--Oestrus Linnaeus 1758 L58
          |         |--*O. ovis Linnaeus 1758 L58
          |         |--O. haemorrhoidalis Linnaeus 1758 L58
          |         |--O. hominis M66
          |         `--O. tarandi Linnaeus 1758 L58
          `--Hypodermatinae [Hypodermatidae] W87
               |  i. s.: Pallasiomyia W87
               |         Crivellia silenus (Brauer 1858) F92
               |--Portschinskia Semenov 1902 [Portschinskiini] F92
               |--Oestroderma Portschinsky 1887 [Oestrodermatini] F92
               |    |--*O. potanini Portschinsky 1887 F92
               |    |--O. qinghaiense Fan 1984 F92
               |    |--O. schubini (Grunin 1965) [=Teba schubini] F92
               |    |--O. sichuanense Fan & Feng 1984 F92
               |    `--O. xizangense Fan 1982 F92
               |--Oestromyia Brauer 1860 [Oestromyiini] F92
               |    |--O. leporina (Pallas 1778) (see below for synonymy) F92
               |    |--O. kozlowi Portschinsky 1902 F92
               |    |--O. marmotae Gedoelst 1915 F92
               |    |--O. prodigiosa Grunin 1949 F92
               |    `--O. scroticuligera Pleske 1928 F92
               `--Hypodermatini F92
                    |--Przhevalskiana Grunin 1948 F92
                    |--Pavlovskiata Grunin 1949 F92
                    |--Strobiloestrus Brauer 1892 F92
                    |--Oedemagena Latreille 1818 F92
                    |    `--O. tarandi (Linnaeus 1758) F92 [=Hypoderma (Oedemagena) tarandi W87]
                    `--Hypoderma Latreille 1818 F92
                         |--*H. bovis (Linnaeus 1758) [=Oestrus bovis] F92
                         |--H. actaeon P10
                         |--H. diana Brauer 1858 F92
                         |--H. lineatum (De Villers 1789) [=Oestrus lineatus] F92
                         |--H. qinghaiense Fan 1982 F92
                         `--H. sinense Pleske 1926 F92

Oestridae incertae sedis:
  Novoberendtia baltica RJ93
  Adipterites Z02
  Cephenomyiinae F92
    |--Pharyngomyia Schiner 1861 F92
    `--Cephenomyia Latreille 1818 F92
         |--C. jellisoni P10
         |--C. phobifer WT11
         |--C. rufibarbis P10
         `--C. trompe (Modeer 1786) F92
  Aulacephala Macq. 1850 R01
    `--A. badia Gerst. 1863 R01

Cephalopina titillator (Clark 1816) CM91, F92 [=Oestrus titillator F92; incl. O. maculatus Wiedemann 1830 F92, *Cephalopina maculata F92]

Oestromyia leporina (Pallas 1778) [=Oestrus leporinus; incl. Hypoderma satyrus Brauer 1858, *Oestromyia satyrus] F92

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A71] Askew, R. R. 1971. Parasitic Insects. Heinemann Educational Books: London.

[CM91] Colless, D. H., & D. K. McAlpine. 1991. Diptera (flies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 717–786. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[F92] Fan Z. 1992. Key to the Common Flies of China 2^nd ed. Science Press: Beijing.

[KP10] Kutty, S. N., T. Pape, B. M. Wiegmann & R. Meier. 2010. Molecular phylogeny of the Calyptratae (Diptera: Cyclorrhapha) with an emphasis on the superfamily Oestroidea and the position of Mystacinobiidae and McAlpine's fly. Systematic Entomology 35: 614–635.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[MBJ83] Munger, J. C., M. A. Bowers & W. T. Jones. 1983. Desert rodent populations: factors affecting abundance, distribution, and genetic structure. Great Basin Naturalist Memoirs 7: 91–116.

[M66] Murie, J. 1866. On the occurrence of Oestrus tarandi, Linn., in a reindeer in the Society’s gardens. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 590–592.

[M64] Mykytowycz, R. 1964. A survey of the endoparasites of the red kangaroo Megaleia rufa (Desmarest). Parasitology 54: 677–693.

[P10] Pape, T. 2010. Oestridae (bot flies). In: Brown, B. V., A. Borkent, J. M. Cumming, D. M. Wood, N. E. Woodley & M. A. Zumbado (eds) Manual of Central American Diptera vol. 2 pp. 1305–1311. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

[R01] Ricardo, G. 1901. Notes on Diptera from South Africa (concluded). Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 7, 7: 89–110.

[RJ93] Ross, A. J., & E. A. Jarzembowski. 1993. Arthropoda (Hexapoda; Insecta). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 363–426. Chapman & Hall: London.

[S69] Steyskal, G. C. 1969. The mistreatment of the Latin genitive case in forming names of parasites. Systematic Zoology 18 (3): 339–342.

[SC19] Stireman, J. O., III, P. Cerretti, J. E. O'Hara, J. D. Blaschke & J. K. Moulton. 2019. Molecular phylogeny and evolution of world Tachinidae (Diptera). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 139: 106358.

[WT11] Wiegmann, B. M., M. D. Trautwein, I. S. Winkler, N. B. Barr, J.-W. Kim, C. Lambkin, M. A. Bertone, B. K. Cassel, K. M. Bayless, A. M. Heimberg, B. M. Wheeler, K. J. Peterson, T. Pape, B. J. Sinclair, J. H. Skevington, V. Blagoderov, J. Caravas, S. N. Kutty, U. Schmidt-Ott, G. E. Kampmeier, F. C. Thompson, D. A. Grimaldi, A. T. Beckenbach, G. W. Courtney, M. Friedrich, R. Meier & D. K. Yeates. 2011. Episodic radiations in the fly tree of life. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 108 (14): 5690–5695.

[W87] Wood, D. M. 1987. Oestridae. In: McAlpine, J. F. (ed.) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 2 pp. 1147–1158. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada.

[Z02] Zherikhin, V. V. 2002. Ecological history of the terrestrial insects. In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 331–388. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

Last updated: 2 June 2021.