Nycteribiidae is a family of the true fly superfamily Hippoboscoidea are known as "bat flies", together with their close relatives the Streblidae. As the latter do not seem to be a monophyletic group, it is conceivable that bat flies cannot be united into a single family. They are flattened, spiderlike flies without eyes or wings, and as such bear very little resemblance to other Dipterans. These flies are seldom encountered by general collectors, as they almost never leave the bodies of their hosts. Both males and females take blood meals, thus they qualify as real parasites. Most species are highly host-specific. The family is primarily found in the Old World tropics; a few of the 274 known species occur in the Neotropics and in Europe. Genera Subfamily Archinycteribiinae Maa, 1975 Archinycteribia Speiser, 1901 Subfamily Cyclopodiinae Maa, 1965 Cyclopodia Kolenati, 1863 Dipseliopoda Theodor, 1955 Eucampsipoda Kolenati, 1857 Leptocyclopodia Theodor, 1959 Subfamily Nycteribiinae Westwood, 1835 Basilia Miranda Ribeiro, 1903 Hershkovitzia Guimarães & d'Andretta, 1956 Nycteribia Latreille, 1796 Penicillidia Kolenati, 1863 Phthiridium Hermann, 1804 Stereomyia Theodor, 1967 Stylidia Westwood, 1840 Morphology One of the key morphological features of Nycteribiidae is their highly reduced compound eyes. Many species of Nycteribiidae contain no visible eyes or contain only rudimentary eye spots. None of the species contain wings. They have backward folded legs that resemble those of spiders and a dorsally inserted head. References Further reading HTML abstract External links Diptera.info Images Nycteribiidae page at British Insects: Diptera Families (Contains links to illustrations) Brachycera families Parasites of bats Taxa named by George Samouelle Wingless Diptera