Oestrinae is a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

of Oestridae which includes

parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...

flies attacking a range of different hosts. There are 9 genera with 34 species in this subfamily, which typically spend their larval stage in the skin or soft tissues of

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s, including

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

(such species are often considered pests). The adult flies give birth to living larva in the host's nostril.

References

* Pape, T. (2001). Phylogeny of Oestridae (Insecta: Diptera). ''Systematic Entomology'' 26, 133–171. * Gary Mullen, Lance Durden: ''Medical and Veterinary Entomology.'' Elsevier 2009. Oestridae Parasitic arthropods of mammals Parasitic flies Brachycera subfamilies {{Oestroidea-stub