Precipitin Test Identification of Blood Meals of Stomoxys Calcitrans (L.) Caught on California Poultry Ranches, and Observations of Digestion Rates of Bovine and Citrated Human Blood1

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Abstract
During 1964 and 1965, 350 ♂♂ and 571 ♀♀ Stomoxys calcitrans (L.) were collected on 8 different ranches for potential precipitin determination of the flies' blood meal sources; 186 flies suspected of containing vertebrate blood were subjected to precipitin tests with 158 testing positive. Specimens containing vertebrate blood (155 Bovidae, 2 horse and 1 dog) included 25 of 44 gravid ♀♀ with sufficient undigested blood to react to the test system, and 15 ♂♂ and 118 ♀♀ ranging from about 1/8 to nearly fully engorged. Although all flies were caught on poultry ranches, none had fed on birds. Small to large aggregations of mammals were present within 0.2 to 3.2 km of all poultry ranches sampled. Microscopic observations of the intestinal system of flies and precipitin test identifications of citrated human blood tested between 12–33 hr after flies engorged indicated that ♂♂ digested their meals in 12–46 hr. At 20°C most citrated blood meals imbibed by ♀♀ tested positive up to our endpoint of 33 hr post-engorgement; with bovine blood many ♀♀ held at temperatures fluctuating from 15–21°C had not completed digestion at 70 hr post engorgement. These results are compared with previous reports on digestion rates of S. calcitrans.

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