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Arthropod Borne Diseases pp 475–502Cite as

Flies

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Abstract

Here we discuss the role of several dipterans (flies, horseflies, mosquitoes, and others) in causing disease in human beings and other animals, through various mechanisms such as sucking of blood, contamination of foods and other materials, and infestation of the body. The use of maggots for cleaning and enhancing wound healing and in forensic entomology is also reviewed in this chapter. Other noxious Diptera (mosquitoes, black flies, sand flies, biting midges, and horse flies) are briefly discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A tent trap developed in Mauritius had already been described in 1930 (Loughnan 1930 apud Bruce 1938).

  2. 2.

    The use of “mya” and not “myia” in this genus, as would be correct, is due to a mistake in the original name.

  3. 3.

    Stafford III (2008) recommended the utilization of old tires, but they could constitute good breeding places for Aedes aegypti.

  4. 4.

    These hymenopteran parasitoids also have some usefulness for other flies, like Chrysomya spp. and fruit flies (Anastrepha spp. and Ceratitis capitata).

  5. 5.

    Before that, it was common to refer to animal diseases caused by insect larvae, in general, as scholechiasis, according to Kirby and Spence (1815).

  6. 6.

    Although larger mosquitoes (Psorophora sp.) have been considered as the only ones with these eggs, some small sabethine mosquitoes were recently found with eggs in the Brazilian state of São Paulo (CBM).

  7. 7.

    Unpublished data from the Laboratory of Entomology, State University of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

  8. 8.

    In a test conducted in Petri dishes, Candida albicans, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, and MRSA were all lysed by larvae.

  9. 9.

    In classes, a common observation is that a bacterium resistant to digestion by a larva is as absurd and frightening as a cockroach resistant to be smashed by a shoe (CBM).

  10. 10.

    For example, 75 species have already been reported in the poorly studied and small Brazilian state of Santa Catarina (37 of them in a forest in the capital), a quantity similar to that of the UK (36 spp.).

  11. 11.

    See Chap. 3 for their utilization in torture.

  12. 12.

    Nematocera was shown to be a paraphyletic group, in which Culicomorpha includes Culicoidea, with Culicidae and others, and Chironomoidea includes Simuliidae, Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae, and Thaumaleidae. Nematocera (nematos = thread, filamentous, cera = antenna) indicates a “multisegmented” antennae, but, in reality, all insect antennae are divided in three segments, and secondary subdivisions of third segment (flagellum) should better be called subsegments.

  13. 13.

    As an example, in Florianópolis in 2014, a fugitive from the law decided to submit himself to the police rather than endure the relentless attacks of the biting midges in his mangrove hiding place.

  14. 14.

    The filling of coastal swamps with sand in Jamaica, in the 1950s, caused the replacement of a disturbing species (Culicoides furens) by a greater pest (Leptoconops becquaerti).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Center of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88040-900, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil

    Carlos Brisola Marcondes

  2. Department of Animal Biology, Institute of Biology, State University of Campinas, UNICAMP, 13083-862, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Patricia Jacqueline Thyssen

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Correspondence to Carlos Brisola Marcondes .

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  1. Department of Microbiology Immunology and Parasitology Center of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil

    Carlos Brisola Marcondes

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Marcondes, C.B., Thyssen, P.J. (2017). Flies. In: Marcondes, C. (eds) Arthropod Borne Diseases. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13884-8_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13884-8_31

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