Melophagus
Genus of flies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Melophagus is a genus of flies in the family Hippoboscidae.[6][7] All are wingless.
| Melophagus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Melophagus ovinus in Europäischen Zweiflügeligen Fig.11 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Family: | Hippoboscidae |
| Subfamily: | Lipopteninae |
| Genus: | Melophagus Latreille, 1802[1] |
| Type species | |
| Hippobosca ovina | |
| Synonyms | |
Species
- Melophagus dyspnoetus Maa, 1980
- Melophagus grunini Maa & Doszhanov, 1980
- Melophagus himalayae Maa, 1969[8]
- Melophagus kamtshaticus Doszhanov, 1979
- Melophagus kaukasikus Doszhanov, 2003
- Melophagus ovinus (Linnaeus, 1758)[2]
- Melophagus pantholopsus Sun, 1996
- Melophagus rupicaprinus Rondani, 1879[9]
Distribution
They are native to Europe, Asia and North Africa. M. ovinus ovinus has been introduced to most parts of the world where domestic sheep are kept.
Hosts
All are parasites of cloven-hoofed mammals - Family Bovidae, including domestic sheep, domestic cattle, the Mongolian gazelle (Procapra gutturosa), the chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra), the alpine ibex (Capra ibex), the yak (Bos grunniens), plus doubtful records on the argali (Ovis ammon), the bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) and the Dall sheep (Ovis dalli).[7]
Females could only mate until 24 hours of emergence from the puparium, after which they stored sufficient sperms to fertilize the egg production.
