Simulium

A genus of biting gnats or midges, the black flies, humpbacked flies, or buffalo gnats in the dipteran family Simuliidae. The aquatic larvae require swift-flowing streams or highly oxygenated waters for their development, a critical epidemiologic factor in the role of these flies as disease vectors. In Central and South America, Mexico, and across central Africa, various species transmit Onchocerca volvulus, agent of human onchocerciasis. SYN: Eusimulium. [L. simulo, to simulate]

- S. damnosum species that is an important vector of onchocerciasis in central Africa.

- S. neavei species that is an important vector of onchocerciasis in eastern Africa where its larvae and pupae are attached to the shells of crabs of the genus Potamonantes.

- S. ochraceum species that is a vector of human onchocerciasis in Central America.

- S. rugglesi species that is a vector of Leucocytozoon simondi in Canada and the northern U.S.

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Si·mu·li·um si-'myü-lē-əm n the type genus of the family Simuliidae comprising dark-colored bloodsucking dipteran flies of which some are vectors of onchocerciasis or of protozoan diseases of birds see BLACKFLY

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n.

see black fly

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Si·mu·li·um (si-muґle-əm) a genus of flies of the family Simuliidae; many species bite animals and spread disease.