title: First Palaearctic Record of the Bird Parasite Passeromyia heterochaeta (Diptera: Muscidae) from the Iranian Persian Gulf Islands.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Passeromyia is a muscid genus previously known from the Old World Afrotropical and Oriental regions and eastwards from Australia and the West Pacific. The genus is known from nest-dwelling larvae which may be parasites of the nestlings. This study was aimed to identify of the Passeromyia species in the Iranian Persian Gulf Islands.
  
  
  METHODS
  The flies were collected during April 2010 to March 2011 on the 4 Iranian Persian Gulf islands, Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, Abu-Mousa and Qeshm with fly bottle trap and entomological net.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During this sampling, 18 representatives of P. heterochaeta, a species with free-living haematophagous larvae, have been collected. The species is reported herein from Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, Abu-Mousa and Qeshm islands.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first Palaearctic record of the species as well as the first report of the genus Passeromyia from the Palaearctic Region.
authors.affiliation: Chair of Ecology and Biogeography, Faculty of Biology and Environment Protection, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Lwowska, Poland.
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grzywacz
authors.affiliation: Health Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khoobdel
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Kamran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akbarzadeh
keywords: Bird parasite; Iran; New record; Palaearctic; Passeromyia heterochaeta; Persian Gulf