COMPARISON OF SILHOUETTE, STICKY, AND SUCTION TRAPS WITH AND WITHOUT DRY-ICE BAIT FOR SAMPLING BLACK FLIES (DIPTERA: SIMULIIDAE) IN CENTRAL ALBERTA

1985 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Shipp

AbstractIn 1982 and 1983, silhouette traps, sticky traps, and suction traps with and without dry-ice bait were evaluated for sampling populations of black flies that are pests of cattle in central Alberta. The dry-ice-baited silhouette trap was the most effective. The black-fly species collected were Simulium arcticum, S. aureum, S. decorum, S. meridionale, S. tuberosum, S. venustum, S. verecundum, S. vernum, and S. vittatum. Approximately 80% of the black flies collected each year were S. arcticum, the primary pest species of cattle in Alberta.

1981 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. R. Westwood ◽  
R. A. Brust

AbstractTen species of black flies were collected from the Souris River, Manitoba between April 1977 and October 1978. Adults of Simulium luggeri Nicholson and Mickel, Simulium meridionale Riley, Simulium venustum Say, Simulium verecundum Stone and Jamnback, and Simulium johannseni johannseni (Hart) were collected feeding on livestock and humans, and are well known pest species. Simulium vittatum Zetterstedt was the most abundant species, but was not a pest on man or domestic animals. Simulium tuberosum (Lundström) and Simulium johannseni duplex Shewell and Fredeen were the least abundant species. Simulium j. johannseni, S. j. duplex, S. venustum, S. verecundum, S. tuberosum, and Cnephia dacotensis (Dyar and Shannon) appeared to be univoltine species while S. luggeri, S. meridionale, Simulium decorum Walker, and S. vittatum were multivoltine in the Souris River.An evaluation of cone, plate, rope, and wire cage sampling devices for black fly larvae and pupae indicated that cone samplers provided a more representative sample for population assessment.In a black fly control program, of the Souris River, Manitoba two separate larvicide treatments in spring may be necessary. In the case of two treatments, the first should be aimed at late instar larvae of S. j. johannseni, S. venustum, and S. verecundum. Since the majority of S. luggeri and S. meridionale would be in the egg stage at this time, a second treatment, 10–14 days later, would be necessary to control late instar larvae of these species.


2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 306-310
Author(s):  
Michael C. Cavallaro ◽  
Eric Risley ◽  
Paige Lockburner

ABSTRACT Sentinel surveillance systems demonstrate an improved ability to supplement monitoring data and anticipate arbovirus outbreaks (i.e., sentinel avian species). Management complications can arise during unpredictable or unseasonal disease detections, especially in rural areas where resident distribution is patchy. Using spillways near residential lake communities as static surveillance locations, we tested a novel partially submerged sticky trapping technique and screened wild populations of adult female black flies (Diptera: Simuliidae) for West Nile virus (WNV) and eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV). Trap site selection criteria considered the density of immature black fly colonization on spillway surfaces and the number of positive detections of arboviral targets in nearby Culex mosquito populations. On average (±standard error), sticky traps captured 134 (±33) adult black flies over a 24-h period, with 1 trap capturing as many as 735 individuals. Although we detected positive cases of WNV from 20 Culex mosquito trapping sites within 16 km (approx. flight radius) of the selected lake spillways, mixed pools of adult female Simulium vittatum complex and Simulium decorum were all negative for both arboviruses. This study yielded an application for partially submerged sticky traps to collect adult female black flies. Its potential uses for monitoring the infection rates of more well-documented Simulium parasites are discussed.


1994 ◽  
Vol 51 (7) ◽  
pp. 1615-1619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette Charpentier ◽  
Antoine Morin

In situ feeding measurements were made to quantify the effect of current velocity on ingestion rates of larvae of the major pest species of black flies in southern Quebec (Simulium venustum/verecundum, S. tuberosum, and Prosimulium mixtum/fuscum) and to compare these results with those obtained in seminatural conditions (gutter system). Ingestion rates of all three species increased with current velocity by a factor of 2.5 (P. mixtum/fuscum) to 10 (S. tuberosum) between 25 and 100 cm∙s−1. Measured field rates were significantly correlated with those predicted for similar larval sizes, temperatures, and seston concentrations in gutters, although field rates were only 56–87% of those in gutters once corrected for differences in current velocity. These results suggest that the preference of these species for current velocities of about 100 cm∙s−1 reflect their ability to feed faster at these velocities. The effectiveness of larvicides can therefore be strongly affected by current velocities, and determinations of effective doses from gutter experiments may slightly underestimate the required quantity of larvicide.


1979 ◽  
Vol 19 (96) ◽  
pp. 102 ◽  
Author(s):  
HJ Banks ◽  
AK Sharp

The use of carbon dioxide, added as dry ice, was demonstrated as a means of disinfestation of bagged wheat and rye enclosed in a PVC membrane. The bag stack was dosed with dry ice giving an atmosphere of about 60% CO2. Carbon dioxide levels were maintained over 22 days with additional charges of dry ice added directly on top of the stack or enclosed within a polystyrene box to regulate the CO2 release rate. A natural infestation of Rhyzopertha dominica with small numbers of other stored product pest species was controlled, with complete mortality of adult insects, but slight survival of some early stages of R. dominica. Some of the hymenopterous parasitoids, Anisopteromalus calandrae and Choetospila elegans, survived the treatment, apparently as pupae. The treatment was successful under conditions where many other methods of pest control were inapplicable because of difficulty or expense of application, as in a small bulk (2.8 tonnes), at low temperature (11-13�C), when the commodity is close to working areas and when there is a requirement for freedom from pesticide residues.


Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1264
Author(s):  
Katherine I. Young ◽  
Federico Valdez ◽  
Christina Vaquera ◽  
Carlos Campos ◽  
Lawrence Zhou ◽  
...  

Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) emerges periodically from its focus of endemic transmission in southern Mexico to cause epizootics in livestock in the US. The ecology of VSV involves a diverse, but largely undefined, repertoire of potential reservoir hosts and invertebrate vectors. As part of a larger program to decipher VSV transmission, we conducted a study of the spatiotemporal dynamics of Simulium black flies, a known vector of VSV, along the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico, USA from March to December 2020. Serendipitously, the index case of VSV-Indiana (VSIV) in the USA in 2020 occurred at a central point of our study. Black flies appeared soon after the release of the Rio Grande’s water from an upstream dam in March 2020. Two-month and one-year lagged precipitation, maximum temperature, and vegetation greenness, measured as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), were associated with increased black fly abundance. We detected VSIV RNA in 11 pools comprising five black fly species using rRT-PCR; five pools yielded a VSIV sequence. To our knowledge, this is the first detection of VSV in the western US from vectors that were not collected on premises with infected domestic animals.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 220-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard S. King ◽  
Patrick C. McKann ◽  
Brian R. Gray ◽  
Michael S. Putnam

Abstract The whooping crane Grus americana has a long conservation history, but despite multiple attempts across North America, introduction success is lacking. Recently introduced, captively reared whooping cranes have had periods of poor reproductive performance in central Wisconsin that sometimes coincided with black fly (Diptera: Simuliidae) emergences. Sandhill crane Grus canadensis reproductive performance in central Wisconsin is approximately double that of whooping cranes. We used comfort behaviors as a measure of black fly harassment to infer whether behavioral differences existed between nesting sandhill cranes and nesting whooping cranes and between successful and unsuccessful whooping crane pairs. To further explore the interaction between black flies and incubating whooping cranes, we examined differences in behaviors between incubating birds and their off-nest mates. Compared to their off-nest mates, incubating whooping cranes exhibited elevated comfort behaviors, suggesting a bird at a nest may experience greater harassment from black flies. Sandhill cranes had elevated head-flicks over whooping cranes. Whooping cranes exhibited more head-rubs than sandhill cranes, and successful whooping crane pairs had elevated head-rubs over pairs that deserted their nests. Behavioral differences between sandhill cranes and whooping cranes as well as differences in reproductive performance, could be explained by exposure to local breeding conditions. Whereas sandhill cranes have nested in the area for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, whooping cranes were only recently introduced to the area. Behavioral differences between the species as well as those between successful and unsuccessful whooping crane pairs could also be explained by the effect of captive exposure, which could affect all whooping crane introductions.


Zootaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4311 (3) ◽  
pp. 373
Author(s):  
DOUGLAS A. CRAIG ◽  
NEAL L. EVENHUIS

Aspects of the body of work on the Central and Western Pacific black fly Simulium (Inseliellum) are briefly reviewed. Female adults collected from beaches in Tahiti and Raiatea are described as Simulium (Inseliellum) littopyga n. sp., Simulium (Inseliellum) littosocius n. sp. and Simulium (Inseliellum) littosodalis n. sp.. Immature stages of the three species are not associated. 


1959 ◽  
Vol 91 (7) ◽  
pp. 450-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. J. H. Fredeen

Because black flies are active for only a few months each year in the vicinity of this laboratory, methods for collecting, extracting, sterilizing, and storing eggs were devised to facilitate a year around program of research. These methods were developed partly from existing entomological and limnological techniques.


1959 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 571-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. R. Basrur ◽  
K. H. Rothfels

Populations of Cnephia mutata in southern Ontario contain both diploid and triploid individuals. The diploid form is bisexual and lacks chromosomal polymorphism except for a rearrangement involved in its cytological sex determining mechanism. The triploids are parthenogenetic; they produce female progeny only and are highly heterozygous for inversions. The banding pattern of the salivary gland chromosomes of diploids and triploids is very similar; the identical standard sequence occurs in both. The complete lack of autosomal inversions in diploids contrasted with their abundance in triploids indicates that effective genetic exchange does not occur between the two forms; they are reproductively completely isolated, although opportunity for cross-mating would seem to exist. The origin of polyploid parthenogenetic forms in black flies is discussed and the view is favored that they are autopolyploid and automictic.


1991 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.M. Dosdall ◽  
M.M. Galloway ◽  
J.T. Arnason ◽  
P. Morand

AbstractThe efficacy of alpha-terthienyl (α-T) for reducing larval populations of black flies was determined in two streams in southeastern Ontario. By 24 h post-treatment, larval black fly population reductions greater than 90% resulted from exposure to calculated dosages of 0.04 and 0.10 mg-L−1 α-T emulsifiable concentrate over distances of 1.0 and 1.5 km, respectively. Significant population reductions were not observed 2.3 km downstream from injection of the 0.10 mg·L−1 dosage, probably because a marshy area upstream from this sampling site slowed the transport and enhanced photodegradation of α-T. Alpha-terthienyl initiated catastrophic drift of benthic invertebrates that was not selective for any functional feeding group. Significant increases in post-treatment drift, relative to pre-treatment densities, were observed downstream from treatment for eight of 10 taxa studied and included filter-feeders, grazers, and predators. Upstream from treatment, significant increases between sampling days were observed for only two taxa. The catastrophic and nonselective impact of α-T on invertebrate drift preclude its usefulness as an alternative to black fly larvicides used currently, although specialized applications for α-T may exist in integrated black fly control programs.


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