Psychodidae

Psychodidae is a family of small, densely hairy flies with broad wings, including moth flies and sand flies. Some species breed in damp organic matter, while certain sand flies transmit disease.

Connect

Diptera: Diptera is the insect order comprising true flies, characterized by one functional pair of wings. Psychodidae belongs to this order, whose defining wing structure sets the family in context.
Drain fly: A drain fly is a small fly whose larvae commonly develop in the organic film inside drains. Many household drain flies are psychodids, making this a practical name for a familiar subset.
Cibarium: The cibarium is a chamber near the mouth of an insect that can bear teeth or other structures. Cibarial structures help distinguish sand fly species and can affect parasite development.
Culicidae: Culicidae is the mosquito family, whose adults have narrow wings and long piercing mouthparts. Mosquitoes also include blood-feeding disease vectors, but their body form and family placement differ.
Moth fly: A moth fly is a small, hairy psychodid with broad wings held rooflike over its body. This familiar subgroup shows the mothlike appearance behind the family’s common name.
Phlebotomus: Phlebotomus is a genus of sand flies that includes vectors of several human pathogens. Its species transmit pathogens in parts of the Old World.
Sand fly saliva: Sand fly saliva is a mixture of molecules released during feeding that affects blood clotting and host responses. Salivary compounds help blood-feeding psychodids obtain meals and can influence infection.
Simuliidae: Simuliidae is the family of black flies, small insects whose adults often feed on blood. Black flies are another biting fly family, distinct from psychodid sand flies.
Sand fly: A sand fly is a small blood-feeding fly; medically significant species occur in several psychodid genera. These psychodids differ from drain-associated moth flies through blood feeding and disease transmission.
Lutzomyia: Lutzomyia is a genus of New World sand flies, including species that transmit leishmaniasis. It includes important New World disease vectors among psychodid sand flies.