Laboratory Rearing of Stable Flies and Other Muscoid Diptera

Summary

A procedure for rearing stable flies (Stomoxys calcitrans) is presented. The procedure uses locally available materials for diet components, equipment and supplies.

Abstract

Stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans, are serious pests of livestock, humans, companion animals and wildlife worldwide. During the last 20+ years, changes in agronomic practices resulted in serious outbreaks of stable flies in several countries. These outbreaks disrupted livestock production and human recreation resulting in public demands for increasing research and management efforts for this pest. A simple and inexpensive procedure for rearing stable flies for laboratory studies is presented. The procedure uses locally available diet components, equipment and supplies. The procedure can be adapted for rearing other muscoid flies including face fly (Musca autumnalis), horn fly (Haematobia irritans), and house fly (Musca domestica). The procedure produces stable fly puparia averaging 12.5 mg and ~35% egg to adult survival. Approximately 3000 flies are produced in each pan.

Introduction

Stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.), are hematophagous flies whose painful bites disrupt the grazing behavior of livestock, cause pain and suffering to companion animals and disrupt human recreational activities worldwide. Immature stable flies develop in fermenting vegetative matter, often contaminated with animal waste. Changing agronomic practices and crops have produced serious outbreaks of stable flies in crop residues, vegetables in Australia¹, sugar cane in Brazil², and pineapple in Costa Rica³. Although just 14 stable flies per animal are considered to be the economic threshold....

Protocol

1. Egg Collection (Figure 1)

1. Prepare egging cup, place one end of cloth in ~500 mL beaker filled with warm (~40 °C) water. Overlap the sides of the cup and fix with a rubber band. Fold the loose end of the cloth back over the top of the cup.
2. Place egging cup in cage of 8–10 day old flies for ~2 h. Gravid female stable flies will oviposit on the cloth.
3. Remove egging cup from cage and rinse eggs off of the egging cloth into a small pan with squeeze wash bottle.

2. Prepare Larval Rearing Pan

1. Prepare medium (quantities for 1 rearing pan)....

Results

Larvae pupariate 10–14 days and adults emerge 14–16 days after oviposition. Generation time, egg to egg, is ~24 days. Rearing data for May 2013 to January 2017 with three different bulking agents and two colonies are presented in Figure 5. Cottonwood gave the best yield, 3867 ±1442 (

Discussion

Stable flies can be found developing in a broad variety of substrates in nature and can be reared in many types of media in the laboratory. We have used wood shavings and vermiculite as bulking agents. Vermiculite worked well, but made separating puparia from rearing medium difficult and was expensive (~$0.60/pan). Possibly because of the added rigor of separating puparia from the medium, eclosion was also lower with vermiculite, 57% vs. 75% for wood shavings. Cottonwood shavings were comparable to vermiculite, but at ti.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Diamalt	Premier Malt Products, Inc., Saddle Brook, NJ	2540
CSMA Fly media	Purina Animal Nutrition, Arden Hills, MN	5S6Z
Thin Maxi Pad	The Tranzonic Co., Cleveland, OH, USA	5001M
Calf Manna	MannaPro, Chesterfield, MO, USA	Manna Pro
Ammonium Bicarbonate	Spectrum Chemical Manufacturing Corp, Gardena, CA	A1125
Wheat bran, Coarse	Siemer Milling Company, Teutopolis, IL
Wood shavings	Tractor Supply Company, Brentwood, TN	502770699
Fishmeal	Consumer Supply Distributing, North Sioux City, SD	F1550
Adult cages	All Aluminum Window Company, Lincoln, Ne	Custom	45 × 45 × 45 cm, 18 × 16 mesh aluminum screen, stockinette access
9 × 28 cm black cotton cloth	Robert Kaufman Fabrics, Los Angeles, CA	K040-114	Egging cloth
10 L plastic dish pans	Rubbermaid, Saratoga Springs, NY	FG2951ARWHT	Larval pans
Stockinette, Cotton, 12 inch x 25 yard roll	Tex-Care Medical Company, Burlington, NC	91311-225