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On the Genus Crataerina, von Olf., and its Allies (Diptera Pupipara—Family Hippoboscidae), with Descriptions of New Species1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

E. E. Austen
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Extract

Among the bird-parasites included in the family Hippoboscidae, are four small closely conneceted genera, in all of which the wings exhibit more or less extensive reduction and are apparently useless for the purpose of flight. In various parts of the world species belonging to one or other of three of these genera, namely Crataerina, v. Olf., Myophthiria, Rond., and Brachypteromyia, Will., infest Swifts (Micropus, Collocalia, etc.) and their nests; while the solitary representative of the fourth genus Stenepteryx, Leach, at present known is similarly parasitic on the House-Martin (Delichon urbica, L.), which, though in no wise related, is closely associated with the Common Swift in the popular mind.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , September 1926 , pp. 350 - 360
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1926

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References

1 The spelling here adopted is that used by the author of the genus, who states that the name is derived from the Greek κρᾰταίρῑνος (hard-shelled). Bezzi(1905, Katalog der Paläarktischen Dipteren, IV. 280), who quite unnecessarily introduces Crataerrhina as an emendation, misquotes the original spelling as Crataerhina, a form previously adopted however by Speiser (1900, Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Genov. (Ser. 2a), xx. 555).

Bezzi (loc. cit.) also gives the date of von Olfers's work incorrectly as 1805, and (following Hagen—see below) the place of publication as “Goettingae.”

1 With reference to the title, and place and date of publication of this excessively rare little book, it is perhaps worth while to quote the following note from the present writer's Illustrations of African Blood-Sucking Flies (London: Printed by Order of The Trustees of the British Museum, 1909), pp. 176, 177, a work which itself has been out of print for many years.—“As given by Hagen (Bibliotheca Entomologica, II. 20 (Leipzig: Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, 1863)) the title of this work is ‘De vegetativis et animatis corporibus in corpore animate reperiundis, Pars I.’ Hagen also gives the place and date of publication as ‘ Goettingae, 1815.’ In none of the catalogues that I have been able to consult, however, is there any mention of an 1815 (Göttingen) edition; the 1816 (Berlin) edition alone is mentioned, and the title quoted is the same as that given above, which is taken from the Museum copy, formerly in the library of Sir Joseph Banks. Wiedemann (Aussereuropäische zweiflügelige Insekten, n. 604, note, 1830) quotes the 1816 edition.— Since the foregoing was written, I have received a most courteous letter from Dr F. Reicke, of the Königliche Universitäts-Bibliothek, Göttingen, informing me, in reply to an enquiry, that a copy of the 1816 edition of von Olfers's work is the only one contained in that institution; and that, in spite of an exhaustive search, he has been unable to discover any evidence of the existence of an 1815 (Göttingen) edition.”

1 Apud Bezzi (1905, Kat. Pal. Dipt. iv. 281, note *), the Chimney-Swallow (Hirundo rustica, L.) is also a host of C. pallida, but no support to this statement is afforded by data attached to specimens in the Museum.

2 Treated as a variety of C. pallida, Latr., by Bezzi (loc. cit.).

1 It has recently been pointed out by Wülker (3. xi. 1925, “Zur Biologic der Lausfliegeu der Vögel und ihrer Rolle als Protozoenüberträger,” Senckenbergiana, VII. Heft 6, p. 229) that: “Dissemination of blood-parasites, by means of the species [i.e. those with reduced wings] that are closely attached to the nest and the avian host, can obviously occur only much more slowly and irregularly than when the intermediaries belong to genera such as Ornithomyia, Lynchia, etc., the species of which are rapid fliers, capable of passing easily to and fro between nests and hosts.” In a note on the same page, Wülker mentions that Franchini (1923, Bull. Soc. Path. exot. T. 16) has recorded a few instances in which trypanoaomes have been found in Italian Swifts—presumably Micropus melba, L.

1 For names and illustrations of colours used for descriptive purposes in the present paper, see Ridgway (1912), Color Standards and Color Nomenclature (Washington, D.C. Published by the Author).

1 The identity of Brachypteromyia femorata, Will., with Anapera fimbriata, Waterh., first suggested by Speiser (1899, Wien. Ent. Z. XVIII. 202, note *) and confirmed by Aldrich (1923, Insec. Inscit. Menstr. XI. 78), is beyond doubt.

2 Cf. Shufeldt, R. W. (1887), The Ibis, V. 157Google Scholar

1 In the event of this character being considered of generic value, Rondani proposes the genus Myiocoryza for Myophthiria lygaeoides.