A dipping technique for selecting house-flies, Musca domestica L., for resistance to insecticides

1964 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 541-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Sawicki ◽  
A. W. Farnham

A dipping technique for exposing large numbers of house-flies (Musca domestica L.) to measured doses of insecticide is described. It is suitable for selecting resistant populations and, while giving consistent results, is more rapid than other techniques used for this purpose.Up to 2,000 flies of both sexes, less than 24 hr. old, are immersed for three minutes in 100 ml. of a 70 per cent, mixture of acetone and water containing the required concentration of insecticide, using a 9-cm. sintered glass Büchner funnel as the immersion chamber. The liquid is then removed by suction, the sides of the funnel are wiped with filter paper, and the flies are allowed to drain for three minutes; they are then transferred in small batches to plastic recovery chambers containing food. Mortality is recorded next day, and the survivors are released into breeding cages.Experiments showed that immersion for three minutes in 70 per cent, acetone was virtually harmless to the flies and that the amount of insecticide deposited on individual flies was reasonably uniform (coefficient of variation about 20%). Batches of 2,000 flies, but not more, could be treated at one time.When the dipping technique was compared with topical application of measured drops of insecticide, using a susceptible strain of house-flies and two other strains that were resistant to DDT and diazinon, dipping gave steeper log-probit regression lines than topical application, and the LD50's and resistance factors of the resistant strains were smaller. With flies resistant to DDT, dipping gave straight regression lines whereas topical application gave compound lines.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0249496
Author(s):  
Saad M. Alzahrani

This study was conducted to determine the susceptibility and resistance of some house fly strains of Musca domestica L. to the insect growth regulator insecticides triflumuron and pyriproxyfen in some locations in Riyadh city. Field-collected strains of M. domestica L. from five sites in Riyadh city that represented five slaughterhouse sites where flies spread significantly were tested against triflumuron and pyriproxyfen. Triflumuron LC50 values for the five collected strains ranged from 2.6 to 5.5 ppm, and the resistance factors (RFs) ranged from 13-fold to 27-fold that of the susceptible laboratory strain. Pyriproxyfen LC50 values for the field strains ranged from 0.9 to 1.8 ppm with RFs of 3-fold to 5-fold. These results indicate that pyriproxyfen is an effective insecticide to control house flies and should be used in rotation with other insecticides in the control programs applied by Riyadh municipality.


2004 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey G. Scott ◽  
Cheryl A. Leichter ◽  
Frank D. Rinkevich

1971 ◽  
Vol 103 (12) ◽  
pp. 1753-1756 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur Retnakaran

AbstractTopical application of thiotepa on the adult male spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana Clemens, at a concentration of 10 μg/insect resulted in 100% sterility. Unlike metepa, thiotepa did not have any apparent adverse effects on the competency of the sperms. Large numbers of male moths can be sterilized by allowing them to walk for 30 min on filter paper treated with a 2.5% solution of thiotepa in a 3:1 mixture of acetone and diffusion pump oil.


1960 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 523-532 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. G. Gostick ◽  
P. S. Hewlett

Basic laboratory investigations have been carried out on a method for giving house-flies, Musca domestica L., relatively large doses of insecticide, with a view to possible applications in controlling, or preventing the appearance of, resistant strains of flies. The principle is that a relatively large drop of mineral oil will hang on the lower end of a thin vertical or near-vertical wire (e.g., a drop of up to 3 μl. on a wire 0·3 mm. in diameter), and a fleeting contact of a fly with the drop will generally transfer to the surface of the fly a substantial volume of oil. For investigational purposes pins were inserted obliquely into rods (e.g., about 700 pins into a rod 60 cm. long), and drops of up to about 1 μl. were formed on the ends of the pins by dipping the pin-bearing rods into solutions of insecticide in oil. In a typical experiment a rod with suspended drops was hung vertically from the ceiling of a chamber into which flies were released; flies then collected doses of insecticide when attempting to alight on the rod.


1963 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 763-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Busvine ◽  
M. G. Townsend

Resistance to γ BHC and dieldrin in various insects usually gives a characteristic resistance spectrum, probably indicating a common defence mechanism. Resistant house-flies (Musca domestica L.) are slightly anomalous in showing greater tolerance of γ BHC than of endrin and isodrin, unlike other resistant strains. A possible explanation is that they can develop an additional defence, specific towards γ BHC, as well as the usual group resistance. This might well be enhanced enzymatic degradation of BHC, which is known to occur in flies, but was not found in resistant strains of Anopheles gambiae Giles or Cimex lectularius L.To confirm this hypothesis the rates of BHC elimination were measured in normal and two resistant strains of flies and also in normal and resistant strains of Lucilia cuprina (Wied.) (which showed the more usual resistance spectrum). To avoid toxic effects, the non-insecticidal α BHC was used and its elimination after six hours measured in extracts by gas chromatography. The two resistant fly strains showed significantly increased degradation of BHC, correlated with their greater γ BHC resistance, whereas rates were about the same in normal flies and the two strains of L. cuprina.


1965 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 727-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Sawicki

Allatectomy of newly emerged house-flies (Musca domestica L.) prevents maturation of the ovaries, and experiments were done to find whether this affected the sensitivity of the flies to insecticides.The apparatus and operational procedure for removing the complex comprising the corpus allatum and corpora cardiaca are described.Females of a diazinon-resistant strain (SKA) were allatectomised less than 12 hr. after emergence, and when three days old their sensitivity to diazinon, dieldrin and pyrethrum extract was tested by topical application. Approximately equal numbers of intact females were tested simultaneously, and untreated controls of both kinds of flies were included in every test. The failure of the ovaries to mature in allatectomised flies was confirmed by examination of a majority of the operated flies that lived for four days, and normal development of the ovaries of intact flies was similarly confirmed.The results showed that there was no difference in sensitivity between allatectomised and normal flies. It is concluded that allatectomy does not affect susceptibility to the insecticides used. Since earlier work had shown that a 9- to 18-fold increase in resistance to diazinon takes place during the period from emergence to the third day afterwards, it is further concluded that this increase is unaffected by allatectomy and the failure of the ovaries to mature.


1984 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Sawicki ◽  
A. L. Devonshire ◽  
A. W. Farnham ◽  
Kate E. O'Dell ◽  
G. D. Moores ◽  
...  

AbstractWidespread slight pyrethroid-resistance in Musca domestica L. on animal farms in southern England was correlated with strong resistance to trichlorphon and to malathion, and with the presence of an esterase, E0·39, detected by electrophoresis. In the laboratory, the frequency of E0·39 increased in response to selection with either pyrethroids or trichlorphon. Genetic analysis confirmed that this esterase, controlled by a gene on autosome 2, was closely linked with moderate resistance to trichlorphon and malathion and weak resistance to pyrethroids. When autosome 2 with the gene for E0·39 was introduced into a strain homozygous for the resistance mechanism super-kdr, resistance to pyrethroids increased by a factor equivalent to the weak resistance conferred by autosome 2 with E0·39 alone. Homozygosity for both mechanisms of resistance, and E0·39, was obtained by selecting the progeny of this cross with permethrin alone, permethrin and trichlorphon, or DDT and trichlorphon, demonstrating that very strong pyrethroid resistance can be achieved through the use of non-pyrethroid insecticides. E0·39 was absent from insecticide-resistant strains of M. domestica from Denmark but was present in several multi-resistant strains from other European countries.


1961 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 715-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Sawicki

An apparatus and technique are described for handling, immobilising by suction, and individually dosing house-flies, Musca domestica L. The apparatus consists of a suction platform connected to a vacuum cleaner, a specially designed cage and a measured-drop apparatus. The suction platform consists essentially of a circle of terylene gauze, on to which the flies are drawn from the cage and held by suction during treatment. The cage can be made to contract, so that the flies may be crowded together near the special emergence hole through which they are to be withdrawn. The technique avoids the use of cooling and anaesthetics, which affect the metabolism of the flies, and is therefore especially suitable for measuring knockdown, although it can equally be used to estimate toxicity. Some factors likely to influence the results are examined and discussed, and an example is given of two experiments with house-flies, to show that the method gives reproducible results.


1954 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Bigelow ◽  
E. J. LeRoux

This paper is a report on the discovery of distinct morphological differences between DDT-resistant and non-DDT-resistant strains of the house fly, Musca domestica L. Since DDT-resistant house flies were first reported in Italy in 1945-46, such differences have been sought by a number of workers (e.g. Wiesmann, 1947; D'Alessandro et al., 1949; March and Lewallen, 1950; Anon., 1950). Various slight differences have been detected but none of a magnitude comparable to those described in this paper has so far been reported.


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