noun

• A flattened bloodsucking fly which may have reduced or absent wings and typically spends much of its life on one individual of the host species.

  Family Hippoboscidae: several genera

  ‘Haemoproteus species are transmitted by biting midges (Citlicoides spp.; Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) and louse flies (Diptera: Hippoboscidae).’

  More example sentences

  • ‘These flies are also called louse flies and are ectoparasites on birds and mammals.’
  • ‘Other louse flies overwinter as puparia presumably on or under the surface of the soil.’
  • ‘Tick-like, with flattened bodies and grappling hook claws, the louse flies (family Hippoboscidae) are truly bizarre.’
  • ‘Bat flies evolved closely with two other groups of blood sucking flies, the Hippoboscidae (louse flies), and the Glossinidae (Tsetse-flies).’