Hostname: page-component-669899f699-rg895 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-03T01:20:47.912Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The sheep headfly, Hydrotaea irritans (Fall.) (Diptera, Muscidae): larval habitat and immature stages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

J. Robinson  and
M. L. Luff
J. Robinson
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Zoology, The University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, U.K.
M. L. Luff
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Zoology, The University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, U.K.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Numerous habitats were sampled for larvae of sheep headfly, Hydrotaea irritans (Fall.), in infested areas of Northumberland during the winters 1973–74 and 1974–75. Most of the larvae found came from near the surface of soil beneath pasture and long grass. The mean larval density in these sites was 1·93/m2; the greatest density in a single site was 3·87/m2 which compares well with unpublished estimates of adult fly density. Only two larvae were recovered from cow dung. One larva was found in bracken litter, and none in other types of litter, or in horse dung, peat, moss or rotten wood. Larvae were reared to the mid-third instar from eggs laid in the laboratory. Field-collected larvae fed readily on Musca and Calliphora larvae, and did not appear to diapause in December; their identity was confirmed by rearing them to the adult stage. The egg, second- and third-instar larvae, and puparium are described and figured. Descriptions are given of changes in the mouthparts during growth of the third-instar larva, and of the features by which field-collected larvae can be identified.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 65 , Issue 4 , February 1976 , pp. 579 - 586
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bahr, L. (1955). Fortsatte undersøgelser vedrørende “sommermastitis” (S.M.) hos goldkvaeget.—Dansk Maanedskr. Dyrlaeg 63, 365–388.Google Scholar
Hammer, O. (1941). Biological and ecological investigations on flies associated with pasturing cattle and their excrement.—Vidensk. Meddr dansk naturh. Foren. 105, 141–393.Google Scholar
Lobanov, A. M. (1968). On the morphology of larvae of the third instar in synanthropic species of flies of the genus Hydrotaea R.-D. (Diptera, Muscidae).—Zool.Zh. 47, 85–90. [In Russian.]Google Scholar
Nielsen, B. O., Nielsen, B. M. & Christensen, O. (1971). Contributions to the biology of the plantation fly, Hydrotaea irritans Fall. (Diptera, Muscidae).—Ent. Meddr 39, 30–44. [In Danish.]Google Scholar
Nielsen, B. O., Nielsen, B. M. & Christensen, O. (1972). The plantation fly, Hydrotaea irritans (Fall.) on grazing heifers (Diptera, Muscidae).—Ent. Meddr 40, 151–173. [In Danish.]Google Scholar
Schumann, H. (1963). Zur Larvalsystematik der Muscinae nebst Beschreibung einiger Musciden- und Anthomyidenlarven.—Dt. ent. Z. 10, 134–163.Google Scholar
Skidmore, P. (1973). Notes on the biology of palaearctic muscids.—Entomologist 106, 25–59.Google Scholar
Tarry, D. W. (1973). Recent work on the biology of sheep headfly in Britain.—Proc. 7th Br. Insecticide Fungicide Conf. 265–272.Google Scholar
Tarry, D. W. & Kirkwood, A. C. (1974). Hydrotaea irritans: the sheep headfly in Britain.—Br. vet. J. 130, 180–188.Google Scholar