Research Reveals Fly ‘Sacrifices’ Sight After Finding Host to Live On
- A species of fly known as deer keds loses its visual sensitivity after finding a host and permanently giving up flight.
- Deer keds, blood-feeding parasitic biting flies, use their eyes and flight to locate hosts such as deer, humans, or other mammals.
- Once deer keds land on a host, they shed their wings permanently and spend the rest of their lives crawling through fur and feeding on blood.
- After securing a host, deer keds reduce activity in their opsin genes related to vision, conserving energy for their parasitic life.
28 Articles
28 Articles
Parasitic fly 'sacrifices sight' after finding host, study shows
Deer keds—biting flies found across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas—use their eyes and flight to locate a host, typically deer, but occasionally humans or other mammals. Once they land, however, they shed their wings permanently and spend the rest of their lives crawling through fur and feeding on blood.
Parasitic fly ‘sacrifices sight’ after finding host, researchers discover
Deer ked. Photo by iNaturalist user François-Xavier Taxil, CC BY-NC 4.0 Mark Mansfield A blood-feeding parasitic fly appears to reduce its visual sensitivity after finding a host and permanently giving up flight, according to new research led by scientists in Wales. Researchers at Aberystwyth University and the University of Florence studied deer keds, biting flies that use flight and vision to locate hosts before shedding their wings and living…
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