Response of Screwworms (Diptera: Calliphoridae) to Changes in the concentration of Blood, Egg, and Milk in the Larval Diet

Authors

David B. Taylor, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

1988

Comments

Published in Journal of Economic Entomology 81(2): 562-567 (1988).

Abstract

Larvae of screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel), were reared on diets with varying concentrations of whole dried bovine blood, whole dried egg, and nonfat dried milk. Pupal weight, egg to pupal survival, adult emergence, sex ratio, fecundity, and fertility were significantly affected by one or more of the dietary components. Curvilinear models for the effect of dietary component concentration on life history parameters were derived by multiple regression. Most models resulted in bell-shaped curves that were used to calculate optimal diet component concentrations. Biomass, survival, emergence, and fecundity were maximized at 6% blood, 5% egg, and 1.3% milk.