Dr. Carl W. Dick

Carl W. Dick holds a B.S. and M.S. in biology and a PhD in zoology from Texas Tech University. His professional affiliations are Brown Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Field Museum of Natural History, Research Associate, Center for North American Bat Research and Conservation as well as Research Associate, The Museum of Texas Tech University.

His academic interests center on the inter-relationships of ectoparasites and their mammal hosts, in particular, on bat flies. Bat flies are obligate, blood-sucking parasites of bats worldwide, and are found nowhere else. These flies have evolved numerous morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations to their parasitic life on the bat’s bodies. Because of their intimate relationships with bats, bat flies provide a model system for studies in ecology and evolution. The particular group of flies he works with are members of a group called Hippoboscoidea, which contains the families Hippoboscidae, Nycteribiidae, Streblidae and, Glossinidae - tse tse flies. Tse tse transmit sleeping sickness to humans in sub-saharan Africa and are of critical medical importance. At the Field Museum of Natural History, his studies include taxonomy and systematics of bat flies as well as the ecology and evolution of host-parasite associations.