First report of Symphoromyia immaculata (Diptera: Rhagionidae) from Italy, with the description of its attack and blood-feeding behaviour on human hosts


Submitted: 18 August 2020
Accepted: 18 May 2021
Published: 6 August 2021
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Authors

  • F. Romiti Laboratory of Parasitology and Entomology, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana M. Aleandri, Rome, Italy.
  • C. De Liberato Laboratory of Parasitology and Entomology, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana M. Aleandri, Rome, Italy.
  • A. Magliano Laboratory of Parasitology and Entomology, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana M. Aleandri, Rome, Italy.
  • A. Ermenegildi Laboratory of Parasitology and Entomology, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana M. Aleandri, Rome, Italy.
  • I. Del Lesto Laboratory of Parasitology and Entomology, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Lazio e della Toscana M. Aleandri, Rome, Italy.
  • P. Beuk Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands.

Specimens from a swarm of Symphoromyia immaculata (Meigen, 1820) were collected in the act of biting people in a farmhouse in Central Italy. The species is distributed in West and Central Europe and eastwards in Northwest Russia. This is the first record of S. immaculata in Italy, with a documented case of humans suffering from bites of this species.


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Romiti, F., De Liberato, C., Magliano, A., Ermenegildi, A., Del Lesto, I., & Beuk, P. . (2021). First report of <em>Symphoromyia immaculata</em> (Diptera: Rhagionidae) from Italy, with the description of its attack and blood-feeding behaviour on human hosts. Journal of Entomological and Acarological Research, 53(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/jear.2021.9315

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