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Biological control of house flies Musca domestica and stable flies Stomoxys calcitrans (Diptera: Muscidae) by means of inundative releases of Spalangia cameroni (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

H. Skovgård  and
G. Nachman
H. Skovgård*
Affiliation:
Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Research Centre Sorgenfri, Pest Infestation Laboratory, Skovbrynet 14, DK 2800 Lyngby, Denmark
G. Nachman
Affiliation:
Department of Population Ecology, Zoological Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
*
*Fax: +45 45931155 E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The efficacy of the pupal parasitoid Spalangia cameroni Perkins as a biological control agent was tested against house flies Musca domestica Linnaeus and stable flies Stomoxys calcitrans (Linnaeus) in one dairy cattle and two pig installations in Denmark. Weekly releases of S. cameroni from April through to September–October 1999 and 2000 resulted in significant suppressions of house fly populations to below nuisance level, whereas no effect on stable flies was found. Parasitism was significantly higher in the release years compared to the control years, but was below 25% averaged over the fly season for each farm. A statistical model based on a functional relationship between the innate capacity of increase of the two fly species and three explanatory variables (air temperature, fly density and parasitism) provided a fairly good fit to data with the abundances of house flies and stable flies explained mostly by temperature, but intra- and interspecific competition, and parasitism had a significant effect as well. Overall, the model was capable of explaining 14% and 6.6% of the total variation in data for house fly and stable fly, respectively. Spalangia cameroni was the predominant parasitoid to emerge from exposed house fly pupae, but from mid summer onwards Muscidifurax raptor Girault & Sanders (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) was also quite common. The study indicated that biological control of house flies can be an efficient alternative to chemical control.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 94 , Issue 6 , December 2004 , pp. 555 - 567
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

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