Crataerina pallida

Mauerseglerlausfliege ( Crataerina pallida )

The Mauerseglerlausfliege ( Crataerina pallida ) is a Fly in the family of louse flies ( Hippoboscidae ).

Features

Starving Mauerseglerlausfliegen are 6.3 to 8.1 millimeters long, with it about three millimeters falling on head and thorax. With blood soaked they reach lengths of 7.4 to 9.9 millimeters, the males are slightly smaller than females. Their body is flattened and dirty greyish brown, the head and thorax are darker than the legs. The abdomen is translucent, so it turns the translucent green hemolymph. The wings are triangular, three times as long as wide, and pointed at the end. They are 4 to 4.5 millimeters in length, which corresponds approximately to the length of the abdomen. With the wings of the louse fly can sail controlled, but not actively fly.

Occurrence and life

The Mauerseglerlausfliege is a parasite whose host animals are mainly swifts, but also swallows. They cling to the body of the birds laid and suck blood - in extreme cases, they can at cool temperatures starve even up to 20 days. The life cycles of the fly and the host animals are highly synchronized. The larvae develop only in the uterus of the female, which is called adenotrophe Viviparie. The larvae are below or stored some distance from the nest sailors, when they have reached the third stage. They pupate almost immediately.

If the birds have completed their breeding business and no longer visit the nearby also on walls nests, active penetration into human living spaces is possible. The bites are very painful and itchy wheals keep for about a week. The Mauerseglerlausfliege shares probably the area of ​​distribution and their host animals.