The hippoboscids play important roles in ecosystem functioning and can serve as indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem health. These bloodsucking ectoparasites are important from a public health perspective, as they can serve as vectors of various endoparasitic pathogens in animals and humans, although our understanding is still limited in this case. The current study provides information on the host species and distribution, which can contribute to the understanding of the ecology and epidemiology of these important arthropods with a potential impact on both animal and human health. We present an ecological parasite-host interaction network of louse flies and deer keds (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) collected from various sites in Slovakia from this time. A total of 123 new samples of eight hippoboscid fly species were captured on 17 species, including 15 birds and two mammals. New host-parasite interactions were recorded for the first time.

We present a summarization of an overview of hippoboscid flies parasitizing bird hosts in Slovakia. Six new host associations are presented in this paper: Lipoptena fortisetosa Maa, 1965 collected on Certhia familiaris Linnaeus, 1758 and Sylvia atricapilla (Linnaeus, 1758), Ornithomya biloba Dufour, 1827 collected on S. atricapilla, Ornithomya chloropus (Bergroth, 1901) collected on Anthus trivialis (Linnaeus, 1758), and Ornithomya fringillina Curtis, 1836 collected on Phylloscopus collybita (Vieillot, 1817) and A. trivialis are recorded for the first time from Slovakia.

The available keys for European Hippoboscidae are outdated and do not cover all species currently known from Europe. Therefore, identification keys to the eleven genera and 31 species of the European hippo-boscids are provided here. Ornithomya comosa (Austen, 1930) (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) is recorded for the first time from the territory of Slovakia based on one female found on a sand martin, Riparia riparia (Linnaeus, 1758). The list of keds and louse flies recorded from the territory of Slovakia is increased to 20 species. New host records for Slovakia are presented.

In the present study, we explored the effects of urban habitat attributes on richness, density and community composition of breeding birds. We performed the study during breeding season within a small town (c. 12,000 inhabitants) in eastern Slovakia in 2019. We assessed bird data and habitat characteristics for seven zones (town centre, an old detached houses’ residential area, a recent detached houses’ residential area, industrial zone, a high-rise buildings’ residential area, greenway) within the study area (347 ha). We found 40 breeding species and 2,033 breeding pairs within the area. The bird species were classified into six nesting guilds (buildingnesters, hole-nesters, tree-crown-nesters, shrub-nesters, ground-nesters, and riparian cavity-nesters) and to four groups with different affinity to urban environment. The building-nesters were the most abundant guild followed by tree-crown-nesters. We found that maximum tree height and ruderal vegetation cover correlated positively with overall species richness, and maximum number of buildings’ floors correlated positively with overall abundance (per 10 ha). Abundance of hole-nesters, tree-crown-nesters and shrub-nesters correlated positively with tree cover, and negatively with cover of hard surfaces; building-nesters’ abundance was positively correlated with maximum number of buildings’ floors. Tree cover and maximum number of buildings’ floors explained 50.7% of species composition in zones. Composition of nesting guilds differed between the town zones. Our results indicate the importance of urban vegetation to maintain higher breeding bird species richness in town environment.

The list of all known locality and host records from the literature on louse flies from Slovakia are summarized, with the addition of new collection data. New locality data are provided for five species. Three species are added to the Slovakian list: Icosta minor (Bigot in Thomson, 1858), which was erroneously cited for Moravia instead of Slovakia in the previous checklist, and Ornithophila metallica (Schiner, 1864) and Ornithomya chloropus (Bergroth, 1901), which were overlooked from the last checklist. As a result, the louse fly fauna of Slovakia increases to 19 species: 12 autochtonous species and seven rare, non-native species only occasionally imported to Slovakia or migrating to the country with their hosts. This is by far the largest regional fauna of Hippoboscidae in Central Europe, and matches the richest southern European faunas. In total, 78 host-parasite associations concerning 46 bird-host species from eight orders and nine species of mammals, including humans, have been found from a literature review in Slovakia. Two host-parasite associations are reported from Slovakia for the first time: Ornithomya avicularia (Linnaeus, 1758) on Prunella modularis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Aves: Prunellidae) and Lipoptena fortisetosa Maa, 1965 on Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 (Mammalia: Hominidae).