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COMMON
HOUSEFLY Musca domestica L.: Diptera, Muscidae |
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The common housefly, Musca domestica L. has been a constant associated of humans
over much of our modern history.
Attempts to control its populations by biological means have been extensive and on
occasion successful in special situations.
More frequently, they have failed to reduce numbers to acceptable
levels. It should be emphasized that
control of M. domestica populations as well as
other endophilic flies pestiferous to humans, would be largely unnecessary if
waste products produced by human activities could be appropriately
managed. Since this is not the case,
efforts towards the biological control of these species have been emphasized. The existence of three known biotypes in
the ancestral home of eastern Africa indicates that further exploration for
effective natural enemies is desirable.
Thus far, only the biotype known as the "Port Type" that has
invaded around the world has been studied, whereas the "Savanna"
and "Boreal" types remain to be examined in their home range.. The housefly, lays its eggs in decaying
vegetable matter or animal excrement.
The legless larvae are maggots with mouth hooks, caudal and thoracic
spiracles. Their filthy habits of
regurgitating saliva and food cause them to be vectors of typhoid, cholera,
and dysentery. etc. Either feces or
regurgitations cause the flyspecks often found on surfaces. Houseflies have been the target of
biological control in California and elsewhere (see ch-50.htm) Parasitic wasps have been
the most commonly studied natural enemies.
Most of the published work has dealt with seasonal occurrence of
parasitoids (Legner & Brydon 1966, Ables & Shepard 1976a,b; Legner
& Greathead 1969, Legner & Olton 1971, Rutz & Axtell 1980a,
1980b, Petersen & Meyer 1983a & b, Mullens et al. 1986) and their
experimental releases (Legner & Brydon 1966, Legner & Dietrick 1974, Morgan et al. 1975q, Olton &
Legner 1975 , Rutz & Axtell 1979). History of Biological Control Attempts
Beginning at the turn of
the 20th Century to about 1968, biological control of flies that breed in
waste habitats was attempted by the introduction of a broad range of
different natural enemies into areas where the flies presented problems. The Pacific Islands were a focus of much attention
with the introduction of dung beetles, several parasitoids and predators
during this period. It was believed
that the accidental introduction of an ant, Pheidole meagcephala
Fab., combined with the introduction of the coprophagous dung beetle, Hister chinensis Quensel, caused significant fly reductions
on the islands of Fiji and Samoa (Simmonds 1958). The Islands of Hawaii had 16 introductions from 1909 to 1967 of
which 12 established. However, the
exact role of these natural enemies in overall regulation of flies on the
islands is still not well understood (Legner et al. 1974, Legner 1978). Rodriguez & Riehl
(1962) in California used the novel and successful approach of chicken
cockerels as direct predators of fly larvae in chicken and rabbit
manure. However, this technique is
not utilized today because of the threat that roving birds pose to the spread
of avian pathogens. Research during 1970-1990
centered on the more highly destructive parasitoid and predatory
species. Examples such as the
encyrtid Tachinaephagus zealandicus Ashmead, five species of
the pteromalid genus Muscidifurax
and Spalangia sp. were
evaluated for their capabilities of attacking dipterous larvae and pupae in
various breeding sources. They are
believed to be capable of successful fly suppression if the right species and
strains are applied in the right locality (Gold & Dahlsten 1981, Morgan
et al. 1975, Morgan 1977, Olton & Legner 1975,
Pickens et al. 1975, Rutz & Axtell 1979, Propp & Morgan 1985a & b,
Axtell & Rutz 1986, Legner 1988a & b, Mandeville et al. 1988, Pawson & Petersen 1988). Other approaches have included the use of
pathogens and predatory mites, and inundative releases of parasitoids and
predators (Ripa 1986). Although
partially successful, none of these strategies have become the sole method
for fly control, and the wrong choice of a parasitoid strain may have detrimental
results (Legner 1986). Instead, the
focus is on integrated controls including other methods such as cultural,
adult baiting and aerosol treatments with short residual insecticides. However, it is generally agreed that
existing predatory complexes exert great influences on fly densities (Legner
et al. 1975 & 1980; Geden 1984, Geden et al. 1987, 1988; Geden &
Axtell 1988) and that many biological control agents of endophilous flies
have not been thoroughly surveyed, nor their potential adequately assessed
(Mullens 1986, Mullens et al. 1986). REFERENCES: Axtell, R. C. & D. A. Rutz. 1986.
Role of parasites and predators as biological fly control agents in
poultry production facilities, p. 88-100. In:
R. S. Patterson and D. A. Rutz (eds.), Biological control of Muscoid
Flies. Misc. Publ. Ent. Soc. Amer. 61. Barin, A., F. Arabkhazaeli, S. Rahbari
& S. A. Madani. 2010. The housefly, Musca
domestica, as a possible mechanical vector of Newcastle disease virus in the laboratory and field. Med. Vet. Entomol., 24(1): 88–90. Barnard,
D R; Geden, C J. 1993. Influence
of larval density and temperature in poultry manure on development of the
house fly (Diptera: Muscidae. Environ.
Entomol., v.22, n.5, (1993): 971-977. Brown,
B.V. 2001. Flies, gnats, and mosquitoes.. In Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, Volume 2. Academic Press. pp. 815-826 Brown,
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Zumbado. 2009. Man. Cent.Amer. Diptera, Vol. 1, NRC Research Press, Ottawa. Chillcott,
J. G. 1961. A
revision of the Nearctic species of Fanniinae (Diptera: Muscidae). Canad. Entomol Suppl, 14(1): 295 Couri,
M. S. 2005. An
illustrated key to adult males of neotropical Fannia Robineau-Desvoidy
belonging to pusio sub-group (Diptera, Fanniidae). Brasil J. Biol, 65(4): 625–629 De Jesus, A. J., A. R. Olsen & J. R. Bryce. 2004. Whiting Quantitative contamination and transfer of Escherichia coli from food by houseflies,
Musca
domestica L
(Diptera:Muscidae). Int. J. Food Microbiol, 193: 259–262 Forster, M., S. Klimpel, H. Mehlhorn, K. Sievert, S. Messler & K.
Pfeffer. 2007. Pilot study on synanthropic flies (e.g. Musca, Sarcophaga,
Calliphora,
Fannia, Lucilia
and Stomoxys) as vectors of
pathogenic microorganisms. Parasitol Res,
101(1): 243–246, Geden,
C. J. & R. C. Axtell. 1988. Predation by Carcinops
pumilio
(Coleoptera: Histeridae) and Macrocheles muscaedomesticae
(Acarina: Macrochelidae) on the housefly (Diptera: Muscidae):
Functional response, effects of temperature, and availability of
alternative prey. Environ.
Ent. 17: 739-44. Geden,
C. J., J. G. Stoffolani, Jr. & J. S. Elkinton. 1987.
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1988.
Predation by predators of the house fly in poultry manure: effects of predator density,
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