The common swift louse fly, Crataerina pallida: An ideal species for studying host-parasite interactions
Faculty of Development and Society, Sheffield Hallam University, City Campus, Howard Street, Sheffield, S1 1WB, U.K
Abstract
Little is known of the life-history of many parasitic species. This hinders a full understanding of host-parasitic interactions. The common swift louse fly, Crataerina pallida Latreille (Diptera: Hippoboscidae), an obligate haematophagous parasite of the Common Swift, Apus apus Linnaeus 1758, is one such species. No detrimental effect of its parasitism upon the host has been found. This may be because too little is known about C. pallida ecology, and therefore detrimental effects are also unknown. This is a review of what is known about the life-history of this parasite, with the aim of promoting understanding of its ecology. New, previously unreported observations about C. pallida made from personal observations at a nesting swift colony are described. Unanswered questions are highlighted, which may aid understanding of this host-parasite system. C. pallida may prove a suitable model species for the study of other host-parasite relationships.
Keywords: Apus apus, avian parasites
Correspondence: a*Mark.D.Walker@student.shu.ac.uk, bI.D.Rotherham@shu.ac.uk
Received: 24 May 2009 | Accepted: 28 August 2009 | Published: 8 November 2010
Copyright: This is an open access paper. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed.
ISSN: 1536-2442 | Volume 10, Number 193
Walker MD, Rotherham ID. 2010. The common swift louse fly, Crataerina pallida: An ideal species for studying hostparasite interactions. Journal of Insect Science 10:193, available online: insectscience.org/10.193
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