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The effect of a flood irrigation cycle on breeding by the bush fly, Musca vetustissima Walker (Diptera: Muscidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

J. N. Matthiessen  and
M Palmer
J. N. Matthiessen
Affiliation:
Division of Entomology, CSIRO, Private Bag, P.O., Wembley, Western Australia 6014
M Palmer
Affiliation:
Division of Mathematics and Statistics, CSIRO, Private Bag, P.O., Wemiley, Western Australia 6014
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Abstract

The effect of a single flood irrigation cycle on the number of adults of Musca vetustissima Wlk. emerging from cattle dung was examined in the field in south-western Australia. Sets of fresh dung pads were exposed to natural oviposition on the day after a flooding and then every three days until the next flooding, 21 days later. The emergence of flies was compared with that from equivalent sets of dung pads in an adjacent unflooded but otherwise similar pasture. The age-stages most susceptible to drowning were post-feeding larvae and pre-emergent puparia. Reduced fly emergence from dung placed in the irrigated pasture one day after the first irrigation was attributed to suppression of oviposition by the wet conditions. Overall, there was a reduction of 57% in the number of flies emerging in the irrigated pasture compared with the unflooded control.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 73 , Issue 4 , December 1983 , pp. 597 - 600
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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