ABSTRACT
House fly (Musca domestica L.) (Diptera: Muscidae) development in different types of manure

Patricia Larraín S.1* y Claudio Salas F.1
 

Animal production units with different management systems can be found along the Huasco Valley, Region of Atacama, Chile. These constitute sources of house flies (Musca domestica L.) and other vector fly species that cause damage to animals and nuisance problems in urban areas. In order to asses the importance of fly breeding sources, an experiment was carried out under laboratory conditions to evaluate different types of animal manure and composted swine manure. Time of larval development, larva mortality, pupa size, and weight and time of development to the adult stage were assessed. Results show that swine, poultry and calf manure produced a significantly higher number of adult flies, shorter life cycles and larger and heavier pupae. Cow, dog, goat and horse manure follow in effectiviveness for fly production. Composted swine manure was totally ineffective for domestic fly development.

Keywords: flies, animal manures, compost
1 Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Centro Regional de Investigación Intihuasi, Casilla 36-B, La Serena, Chile. E-mail: plarrain@inia.cl ; csalas@inia.cl *Corresponding author.