Publication Date

2025

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

King, Bethia H.

Second Advisor

Burgess, Edwin R.

Degree Name

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Legacy Department

Department of Biological Sciences

Abstract

This dissertation examines three alternative mechanisms for the control of house flies, Musca domestica L., a cosmopolitan filth fly pest common in agricultural and urban areas where decaying organic matter is available for larval development. Adult M. domestica are nuisances and vectors of disease. When sanitation, screens, and sticky fly strips fail to control house fly populations, insecticide baits are often used. However, the use of baits can lead to the evolution of resistance, including not only physiological resistance to the toxicant but also behavioral resistance to the phagostimulant and to the toxicant. This evolution of resistance to phagostimulants and insecticides necessitates exploration into alternative mechanisms for fly control. The first alternative fly control mechanism examined is the use of two non-nutritive sweeteners, allulose and neotame, for their suitability as replacement phagostimulants in insecticidal baits for house flies. Suitability was assessed using proboscis extension response (PER) and consumption experiments. Allulose was further examined for insecticidal activity. Dry neotame elicited no PER, and it would not easily go into solution, so it was not examined in solution. Both in dry form and in solution, allulose elicited some PER and consumption, but only half or less of what sucrose or fructose elicited. Flies fed allulose alone had lower survival rates than flies fed sucrose alone. When given both allulose and sucrose, flies survived at similar rates to flies only fed sucrose. Neotame is not recommended as a replacement phagostimulant in bait formulations. Allulose alone is not recommended as a replacement phagostimulant. It remains to be seen whether combining allulose with sucrose as the phagostimulant in baits would result in as much bait consumption as just sucrose. If so, it might be worth testing whether the combination could serve as a rotational phagostimulant to prevent behavioral resistance to sucrose from evolving.The second alternative mechanism investigated whether inhibitors of eicosanoid biosynthesis (EBI), which inhibit immunity in some insects, combined with a fungal biopesticide, BotaniGard ES, is a feasible option for a new biopesticide formulation. The EBIs tested were dexamethasone, naproxen, and esculetin. An insecticide-susceptible and an insecticide-resistant house fly strain were tested. Compared to a control, both strains spent a shorter duration at sugar cubes with fungus alone and with fungus combined with naproxen; flies from the susceptible strain spent a shorter duration at cubes with fungus combined with dexamethasone; and flies from the resistant strain spent a shorter duration at cubes with fungus combined with esculetin. Both strains, whether exposed to fungus, fungus with dexamethasone, or fungus with naproxen, had higher mortality risk compared to a control. With or without injection of an EBI, immersion in a fungal solution increased mortality. However, with insecticide-susceptible CAR21 flies, mortality was greater with the naproxen injection than with dexamethasone- or esculetin-injection with the fungal immersion. Due to no greater mortality for both strains for all EBI and BotaniGard ES combinations compared to BotaniGard ES alone, it is not recommended that dexamethasone, esculetin, or naproxen be used in conjunction with BotaniGard ES for house fly control. The third alternative mechanism explored in this dissertation examines the use of buckwheat to increase efficacy of parasitoid wasp releases. Parasitoid wasps have been used as a tool in the control of house fly populations in lieu of, or in combination with, insecticides. Buckwheat borders have been previously tested as a way to increase rates of parasitism of crop pests. However, buckwheat has not been examined for its impact in the field on any parasitoid of house flies or house fly populations. The present study examined how the presence of buckwheat plants affected the percent house fly emergence, parasitoid emergence, and parasitoid diversity on a Northern Illinois dairy in locations where the parasitoid Spalangia cameroni was released and with or without buckwheat plants. Percent fly emergence decreased with distance from the parasitoid release point. Percent fly emergence differed between control and buckwheat plots at the parasitoid release points and at 3 m away. Parasitoid emergence was higher at buckwheat plots at the parasitoid release point and 3 m away. Parasitoid diversity did not differ between control and buckwheat plots. The dominant parasitoid wasp species collected were Musicidifurax raptor and Pachycrepoideus vindemmiae. Additional study of whether buckwheat helps parasitoid wasps is warranted based on the increased rate of parasitoid emergence. From the three alternative mechanisms of fly control examined in this dissertation, the use of buckwheat for the control of house flies is the most promising.

Extent

107 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

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Text

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Entomology Commons

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