Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-nptnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-16T15:56:14.079Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cuticular bands as age criteria in the sheep blowfly Lucilia cuprina (Wied.) (Diptera, Calliphoridae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Marina Tyndale-Biscoe  and
R. L. Kitching
Marina Tyndale-Biscoe
Affiliation:
Division of Entomology, CSIRO, P.O. Box 1600, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia
R. L. Kitching
Affiliation:
Division of Entomology, CSIRO, P.O. Box 1600, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In Lucilia cuprina (Wied.), cuticular bands are deposited most clearly on the mesothoracic post-phragmata, and up to ten such layers can be counted. The bands are deposited clearly only in response to fluctuating temperatures where the minimum temperature in a cycle falls below about 15·5°C. Growth bands are deposited whenever such a change in ambient temperature occurs and the deposition appears to show no inherent rhythmicity. The maximum width of the phragmata is more or less constant and the number of bands which can be distinguished depends upon how quickly the maximum width of the phragmata is reached. The rate of growth of the growth bands and their consequent width depends upon the maximum temperature experienced and the length of time the insect is maintained at that temperature in any cycle. Trials showed that the count of growth bands was an acceptable estimate of the actual age in days when temperatures rose 3·5°C or more above the threshold value of 15·5°C. With a greater temperature range, greater accuracy was achieved. The availability of protein food was shown to have little effect on the deposition of growth bands. A mean age in days was calculated for samples of field-caught flies of a uniformly young ovarian ‘age’ using the counts of growth bands and by working back in the temperature records from their sites of capture using the day-degrees method. Significant differences between the two estimates of age were taken to indicate the occurrence of developmental delays. These were attributable to shortages of protein food in the field and were associated with periods of drought. The method allows the demonstration that developmental delays have occurred but does not provide an accurate estimate of the duration of these delays. It does not permit the confident identification of delays imposed by shortages of oviposition sites.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 64 , Issue 2 , October 1974 , pp. 161 - 174
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bursell, E. (1961). Post-teneral development of the thoracic musculature in tsetse flies.—Proc. R. ent. Soc. Lond. (A) 36, 69–74.Google Scholar
Colless, D. H. & McAlpine, D. K. (1970). Diptera (flies). In Mackerras, I. M. (Ed.) The Insects of Australia, pp. 656–740. Melbourne, University Press.Google Scholar
Detinova, T. S. (1962). Age-grouping methods in Diptera of medical importance with special reference to some vectors of malaria.—Monograph Ser. W.H.O. no. 47, 216 pp.Google ScholarPubMed
Dingle, H., Caldwell, R. L. & Haskell, J. B. (1969). Temperature and circadian control of cuticle growth in the bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus.—J. Insect Physiol. 15, 373–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, R. D. & Nicholas, W. D. (in press). The spring migration of bushflies; evidence of displacement provided by natural population markers including parasitism.—J. Anim Ecol.Google Scholar
Menzel, R., Moch, K., Wladarz, G. & Lindauer, M. (1969). Tagesperiodische Ablagerungen in der Endokutikula der Honigbiene.—Biol. Zbl. 88, 61–67.Google Scholar
Miller, T. A. & Treece, R. E. (1968). Gonadotrophic cycles in the face fly, Musca autumnalis.—Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 61, 690–696.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neville, A. C. (1963). Daily growth layers in locust rubber-like cuticle influenced by an external rhythm.—J. Insect Physiol. 9, 177–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neville, A. C. (1967). Chitin orientation in cuticle and its control.—Adv. Insect Physiol. 4, 213–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neville, A. C. (1970). Cuticle ultrastructure in relation to the whole insect. In Neville, A. C. (Ed.) Insect ultrastructure. Symposium No. 5 of the Royal Entomological Society of London, pp. 17–39. Oxford, Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Roberts, J. A. & Kitching, R. L. (1974). Ingestion of sugar, protein and water by adult Lucilia cuprina (Wied.) (Diptera, Calliphoridae).—Bull. ent. Res. 64, 81–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlein, Y. (1967). Postmetamorphic growth in Lipoptena capreoli Rondani (Hippoboscidae) and other insects.—Israel J. Zool. 16, 69–82.Google Scholar
Schlein, Y. (1972 a). Postemergence growth in the fly Sarcophaga falculata initiated by neurosecretion from the ocellar nerve.—Nature, New Biology 236, 217–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlein, Y. (1972 b). Factors that influence the post-emergence growth in Sarcophaga falculata.—J. Insect Physiol. 18, 199–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlein, Y. & Gratz, N. G. (1972). Age determination of some flies and mosquitoes by daily growth layers of skeletal apodemes.—Bull. Wld Hlth Org. 47, 71–76.Google ScholarPubMed
Tyndale-Biscoe, M. & Hughes, R. D. (1969). Changes in the female reproductive system as age indicators in the bushfly Musca vetustissima Wlk.—Bull. ent. Res. 59, 129–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zelazny, B. & Neville, A. C. (1972). Endocuticle layer formation controlled by non-circadian clocks in beetles.—J. Insect Physiol. 18, 1967–1979.CrossRefGoogle Scholar