Vampire Fly Info - Koop Lab

In the Galapagos, the recent invasion of the avian vampire fly (Philornis downsi ) is considered to be a serious threat to the avian hosts it infects, including Darwin’s finches. P. downsi is a muscid fly that, in its larval stages, resides in the nest material of finches and feeds on the blood of nestling and adult birds. My earlier work showed that P. downsi can cause 60-100% mortality of infested nestlings. More recently, we found that P. downsi collected from multiple islands in the Galapagos had a high degree of population level similarity, suggesting that the invasion was quite recent and/or the flies are able to move between the islands and interbreed. We partnered with National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions to see whether we could find evidence for movement of the avian vampire fly via tourist boats. Despite their excellent prevention protocols, we still found an avian vampire fly hitchhiking on the boat between islands. Our future work aims to reconstruct the full invasion history of P. downsi in the Galapagos and to explore the ecological and evolutionary processes contributing to its successful invasion. Currently, this system offers students the opportunity to gain experience using lab techniques such as DNA extraction, sequencing, and population genetics analysis.

Philornis downsi gallery