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Effects of introduced dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) on the breeding and abundance of the Australian bushfly, Musca vetustissimaWalker (Diptera: Muscidae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

R. D. Hughes ,
Marina Tyndale-Biscoe  and
Josephine Walker
R. D. Hughes
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Entomology, P.O. Box 1700, Canberra City, A.C.T. 2601, Australia
Marina Tyndale-Biscoe
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Entomology, P.O. Box 1700, Canberra City, A.C.T. 2601, Australia
Josephine Walker
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Entomology, P.O. Box 1700, Canberra City, A.C.T. 2601, Australia
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Abstract

In laboratory experiments in Australia under standard conditions, densities of the dung beetle Euoniticellus intermedius (Reiche) exceeding 150/1-litre pad of cattle dung were shown to suppress breeding of Musca vetustissima Wlk. The experiments also suggested that it was the effect of dung disturbance on the survival of eggs of the fly that led to suppression. Natural vaiation in the quality of cattle dung obscured but did not alter the effects of high beetle densities. The mobility of M. vetustissima in particular, obscured the relationship of its abundance to dung beetle numbers in the field in 1974–75 and 1975–77 an intial high level of flies was apparently reduced and suppressed by a seasonally late but otherwise similar level of beetle attack on dung pads.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , September 1978 , pp. 361 - 372
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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References

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