Breeding Media of Common Flies

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Abstract
Summary A study of production sources and seasonal abundance of the more common muscoid flies from May 1950 through April 1951 showed that Musca domestica was produced by a wide range of breeding media throughout the entire period, far exceeding all other fly species in this respect. This wide adaptibility, plus the house fly's enormous reproduction potential, probably accounts for its demonstrated ability to develop insecticide-resistant populations rapidly. The occasional high production of other common species from any one of five principal fly breeding media categories was offset by its relatively infrequent occurrence or its restriction to certain items of breeding material. Animal refuse (excrements, pen litter and wastes) not only occurred most frequently of all categories of media examined, but were also the most fly productive breeding materials occurring in the two study towns. Fruit-vegetable wastes and miscellaneous wastes were found to occur less frequently and to produce fewer flies, and were considered of secondary importance. Species composition of flies counted indoors during the period of this study showed that 99 per cent were house flies. This species preference for human association, coupled with its abundance coincidentally with diarrheal disease in the study area, further establishes it as the major species to be considered in this area. Certain other species such as Phaenicia spp., Callitroga macellaria and Sarcophaga spp., while frequently noted in houses, actually comprised less than one per cent of flies in houses.
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