Diagnosis. Large flies; body short-haired (honeybee-mimics) and without setae. Head with very small antennae; mouth parts strongly reduced. Thorax not with swollen postscutellum; hypopleural setae absent. Wings with small calyptrae; M straight; top cell broadly open. Females with a long ovipositor that is folded below the abdomen in rest.
Biology. Dutch Gasterophilidae are obligatory parasites of horses and are mostly seen in the direct vicinity of horses or stables. They are oviparous; the female deposits her eggs on the skin of the host. First instar larvae bore into the host and migrate towards the mouth and later to the stomach. Full-grown larvae leave the host with the faeces and pupate in the ground. Presence of larvae of Gasterophilidae seems less harmful to the host than the presence of larvae of Oestridae. The adults do not feed. Numbers of Gasterophilidae on livestock seem to have decreased less severely than those of Hypodermatidae and Oestridae.
General references. Draber-Monko (1978 [keys to all stages]), Grunin (1969 [keys to all stages, biology]), Minář (2000b [general]), Séguy (1928 [keys to imagines]), Soós & Minář (1986a [catalogue]).
References to the local fauna. Numan (1834), Van der Wulp & De Meijere (1898).
How to quote this page: Zeegers, Th., 2001. Family Gasterophilidae. In: Beuk, P.L.Th. (Ed.): Checklist of the Diptera of the Netherlands, https://diptera-info.nl/news.php?fam=Gasterophilidae (date accessed: 26/04/2024).
The occurrence of this species in the Netherlands cannot be confirmed on the basis of existing material. The only records of this species are the very old ones by Numan (1834) and a single record from Amsterdam (leg. P. Koorevaar) by Van der Wulp & De Meijere (1898: 76).
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