Hippelates

Hippelates is a genus of flies in the family Chloropidae and are often referred to as eye gnats or eye flies (the name is also used for members of the Old World genus Siphunculina).

Hippelates
An Eye gnat, a small 1-2mm long fly. Image is a crop of a 1:1 magnification. Pictured in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on a piece of fish.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Diptera
Family:
Chloropidae
Subfamily:
Oscinellinae
Genus:
Tricimba

Lioy, 1864

Description

They are very small (1.5–2.5 millimetres or 0.06–0.10 inches long) flies that frequently congregate around the eyes to lap at the fluids. They are primarily a nuisance pest, and do not bite. They have been linked with the spread of bovine mastitis in North America, and in certain tropical regions, they are capable of vectoring disease-causing bacteria (e.g., yaws).

Hippelates pusio is considered to be the vector for anaplasmosis, bovine mastitis, and Haemophilus spp. which cause bacterial conjunctivitis or 'pinkeye'.[1]

Distribution

Hippelates are Neotropical and Nearctic in distribution.[2]

Species
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

References
  1. http://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG369/notes/eye_gnats.html
  2. Sabrosky, Curtis W. Nomenclature of the Eye Gnats (Hippelates spp.) Am J Trop Med 1951 s1-31: 257-258 full text


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