Carnus hemapterus
| Carnus hemapterus | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Diptera |
| Family: | Carnidae |
| Genus: | Carnus |
| Species: | C. hemapterus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Carnus hemapterus | |
| Synonyms | |
Carnus hemapterus is a
starlings. Females give birth to larvae that live within the nest and feed on organic debris and the pupae also overwinter there. The emergence of imagines is synchronized to the hatch of host nestlings in the subsequent year. They prefer larger chicks within the nest.[6] Adult flies have a winged and an unwinged variety, the latter being more common. In fact, unwinged flies still carry the basal part of their wings, but the majority of the wing is broken off (see a close view of the above photo). Flies live only on the nestlings before and during the development of the plumage, and disappear later on.[7][8]
Infestations by Carnus hemapterus appear to be rather harmless for the host chicks. In spite of that, barn owl females advertise their resistance genes by the dark spots on their breast and belly;[9] nestlings of heavily spotted females tend to be more resistant. In this study, potential environmental confounding effects were controlled for by cross-fostering chicks.
The faeces and blood remains from these ectoparasitic flies make spots on the eggshell surface of host birds. This contamination appear to increase abundance and diversity of eggshell bacterial loads and, consequently, increase the chance of
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Barn owl, heavily spotted -
Barn owl, medium coloration -
Barn owl, weakly spotted
References
- ^ Nitzsch, C.L. (1818). "Die Familien und Gattungen der Thierinsekten (Insecta epizoica) als Prodromus einer Naturgeschichte derselben" (PDF). Mag. Ent. (Germar). 3: 261–316. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ Schiner, I. R. . (1863). "Vorlaufiger Commentar zum dipterologischen Theile der "Fauna Austriaca", mit einer naheren Begrundung der in derselben aufgenommenen neuen Dipteren-Gattungen. V. [concl]". Wien. Ent. Monstschr. 7: 217–226. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
- ^ Stobbe, R. (1913). "Zur Kenntnis der Gattung Carnus Nitzsch (= Cenchridobia Schiner) mit 1 nov. sp. (Dipt.)" (PDF). Deutsche entomologische Zeitschrift. 1913: 192–194. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ Newman, E. (1834). "Attempted division of British insects into natural orders". The Entomological Magazine. 2: 379–431. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ Brake, I (2011). "World Catalog of the Family Carnidae (Diptera, Schizophora)" (PDF). MYIA. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
- S2CID 18781148. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2007-02-21.
- S2CID 2233395. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2007-02-21.
- ]
- .
- ^ Lopez-Rull I; Gil M; Gil D (2007). "Spots in starling Sturnus unicolor eggs are good indicators of ectoparasite load by Carnus hemapterus (Diptera: Carnidae)". Ardeola. 54: 131–134.
- S2CID 8299771.
Further reading
- Liker A, Márkus M, Vozár Á, Zemankovics E, Rózsa L (2001). "Distribution of Carnus hemapterus in a starling colony" (PDF). Canadian Journal of Zoology. 79 (4): 574–580. doi:10.1139/z01-018.
- Václav R, Calero-Torralbo MA, Valera F (2008). "Ectoparasite load is linked to ontogeny and cell-mediated immunity in an avian host system with pronounced hatching asynchrony". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 94 (3): 463–473. .
- Valera F, Martin-Vivald M, Carles-Tolra M (2006b). "Life-history variation in three coexisting species of carnid flies (Diptera : Carnidae), Carnus hemapterus, Hemeromyia anthracina and Hemeromyia longirostris" (PDF). European Journal of Entomology. 103 (2): 347–353. .