Flight capacity of the reindeer warble fly, Hypoderma tarandi (L.), and the reindeer nose bot fly, Cephenemyia trompe (Modeer) (Diptera: Oestridae)

The performance of tethered flies on a laboratory flight mill was used to assess the flight capacity of Hypoderma tarandi (L.) and Cephenemyia trompe (Modeer). Maximum total flying times for H. tarandi females were 31.5 h, but most flies flew < 20 h (mean 8.5 h (SD 7.2 h)). The longest continuous flight was 12 h. For both species, mating greatly altered the flight behaviour of females. Unmated laboratory-reared females were reluctant to fly, and flew less continuously than mated wild-caught flies. Hypoderma tarandi males typically flew for short periods of a few minutes with long rests between flights. Cephenemyia trompe females seldom exceeded 10 h of total flying time (mean 4.9 h (SD 3.2 h), maximum 10.8 h), but were capable of many hours of sustained flight. Field-trapped C. trompe males normally flew < 8 h (mean 2.8 h (SD 2.1 h), maximum 7.1 h). In free flight the speed of C. trompe males was ≈8 m/s. Maximum flight distances during the lifetime of a fly were estimated to be 600–900 km for female H. tarandi, 220–330 km for female C. trompe, and 200–400 km for males of both species. Hypoderma tarandi could maximally reduce its mass to about 40% of initial mass, and the mass loss rate during flight was 3.5-fold that of basal metabolism (i.e., without flying) at 22 °C. The adaptive significance of the extraordinary capacity for sustained flight of female oestrids is related to the migratory behaviour of their vertebrate host, Rangifer tarandus (L.).