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ABSTRACT: We present the first record of Strebla proxima Wenzel, 1976 (Diptera: Streblidae) in Brazil. Our record in Pará state is 2,200 km SE from the nearest record and ends a 41-year hiatus with no records since the original description of the species in Venezuela. The collected specimens (1 male and 1 female) were found parasitizing a female of Peropteryx kappleri Peters, 1867 (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae). Host specificity and the reasons for such a temporal gap between records are discussed.

KEYWORDS: Amazonia, cave, day roost, Hippoboscoidea, host-parasite relationship, Peropteryx kappleri, Streblinae

Species of the fly family Streblidae Kolenati, 1863 (Diptera: Hippoboscoidea) are blood-feeding parasites found exclusively on bats (Chiroptera). The majority of Streblidae species occur in tropical and subtropical regions (Wenzel and Peterson, 1987; Dittmar et al., 2015) and most of New World species are highly hostspecific (monoxenous) or parasitize closely related bat species (Wenzel and Peterson, 1987; Dick, 2007).

In the New World, Streblidae is divided into three subfamilies - Nycterophillinae Wenzel, 1966, Streblinae Speiser, 1900, and Trichobiinae Jobling, 1936 (Dick and Graciolli, 2008). Within the subfamily Streblinae, Strebla Wiedemann, 1824 is the most diverse genus, with 26 species (Dick and Graciolli, 2008). In Brazil, 20 species of Strebla have been recorded (Lourenço et al., 2016), mainly on bats of the Phyllostomidae Gray, 1825.

Currently, the Brazilian Amazonia has a record of about 56 streblid species and only three inventories of bat ectoparasitic flies (Lourenço et al., 2016), although it is the biome with the largest extension in Brazil. Of the 30 streblid species that occur in the state of Pará (Lourenço et al., 2016), 10 are of the genus Strebla - S. consocia Wenzel, 1966, S. diaemi Wenzel, 1966, S. diphyllae Wenzel, 1966, S. galindoi Wenzel, 1966, S. guajiro (García & Casal, 1965), S. hertigi Wenzel, 1966, S. machadoi Wenzel, 1966, S. mirabilis (Waterhouse, 1879), S. obtusa Wenzel, 1976, and S. wiedemanni Kolenati, 1856 (García and Casal, 1965; Wen zel, 1970, 1976; Guerrero, 1996, 1997). The most recent streblid record for the state was made more than a decade ago by Graciolli and Bernard (2002).

Here, we report the first record of the bat ectoparasitic fly Strebla proxima Wenzel, 1976 for Brazil, collected in the state of Pará, extending its known geographic distribution....

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