Life cycle of the Australian soldier fly,Inopus rubriceps(Diptera: Stratiomyidae), in New Zealand

BIOGEOGRAPHY OF INOPUS RUBRICEPS (MACQUART) (DIPTERA: STRATIOMYIDAE)

“…The fly is capable of only short flights of up to 100 m at a time (Osborn and Forteath 1972;Osborn and Halbert 1972;Wilcocks 1973). In addition, a major proportion of the egg complement is laid before flight (Dixon and Gerard 1979) and adults usually die within 1-2 d after emergence (Wilcocks 1973). Soldier fly, therefore, is incapable of dispersal between the more widely separated populations.…”

“…Early this century, soldier fly was found in all states where it now occurs (Hardy 1924). Transport on wind currents is unlikely; adults do not fly under windy conditions (Wilcocks 1973;Campbell and Koehler 1975). The fly is capable of only short flights of up to 100 m at a time (Osborn and Forteath 1972;Osborn and Halbert 1972;Wilcocks 1973).…”

“…Transport on wind currents is unlikely; adults do not fly under windy conditions (Wilcocks 1973;Campbell and Koehler 1975). The fly is capable of only short flights of up to 100 m at a time (Osborn and Forteath 1972;Osborn and Halbert 1972;Wilcocks 1973). In addition, a major proportion of the egg complement is laid before flight (Dixon and Gerard 1979) and adults usually die within 1-2 d after emergence (Wilcocks 1973).…”

Growth and development of Australian soldier fly,Inopus rubriceps(Diptera: Stratiomyidae), in New Zealand

“…Wilcocks (1976) found that female pupae weighed twice as much as males-24.3±IA (n = 90), as against 12.9±0.7 mg (n = 60) ; and pupae in our trials were of similarly disparate weight s. If both sexes gain weight at a similar rate, male larvae would reach pupation size sooner. The results indicate th at the lower the mean weight of a population at emergence, the fewer adults emerge and the higher the proportion of adult male s. Thus, the autumn population (mean weight 13.0 mg) had 75% of larvae pupating and males outnumbered females by 5:2 , whereas in the spring population (mean weight lOA mg) only 7.7% of the larvae pupated and the sex ratio was 25:1.…”

“…Larval growth Wilcocks & Oliver (1976) suggested that larvae from spring-laid and autumn-laid eggs develop at the same rate. Results presented here show no significant differences in larval weight or m.i.…”