Lipoptena depressa

Taxobox | name = "Lipoptena depressa"


image_width = 220px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
subclassis = Pterygota
infraclassis = Neoptera
superordo = Endopterygota
ordo = Diptera
subordo = Brachycera
infraordo = Muscomorpha
zoosectio = Schizophora
zoosubsectio = Calyptratae
superfamilia = Hippoboscoidea
familia = Hippoboscidae
subfamilia = Lipopteninae
genus = "Lipoptena"
species = "L. depressa"
binomial = "Lipoptena depressa"
binomial_authority = (Say, 1823)
synonyms = *"Melophagus depressa" Say, 1823

"Lipoptena depressa", or the Western American deer ked, is a fly from the family Hippoboscidae. They are blood-feeding parasites of the mule deer - "Odocoileus hemionus" in the western United States and Canada in the Rocky Mountains. Cite journal| author = Maa,T. C.| year = 1969| title = A Revised Checklist and Concise Host Index of Hippoboscidae (Diptera)| journal = Pacific Inseccts Monograph | place = Honolulu| publisher = Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii| volume = 20| issue =| language=English| pages = 261-299pp| issn =]

They are often misidentified as ticks.

The female fly will produce a single larvae at a time, retaining the larva internally until it is ready to pupate. The larva feeds on the secretions of a milk gland in the uterus of the female. After three larval instars, a white pre-pupa which immediately forms a hard dark puparium. The pupa is usually deposited where the deer slept overnight. When the pupa has completed its pupation. a winged adult emerges and flies in search of a suitable host, upon which fly sheds its wings and is permanently associated with the same host.cite web |url= http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IN585 |title= Neotropical Deer Ked or Neotropical Deer Louse Fly, "Lipoptena mazamae" Rondani (Insecta: Diptera: Hippoboscidae)| author = Kern Jr, W.H.|accessdate=2008-10-10 |work= |publisher= Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida|date= 2008| language = English] This is typical of most members of the family Hippoboscidae.

References