Evaluation of Different Monitoring Methods for Musca domestica L. 1758 (Diptera: Muscidae) Indoor Population

Abstract

The housefly Musca domestica is a cosmopolitan insect nuisance pest, also known as a carrier of numerous pathogens both to humans and animals. Animal farms, as a very important source of house flies, simultaneously allow for all stages of their development. Having vast quantities of constantly present manure, pig units represent perfect environment for house fly breeding. This fact, coupled with the known resistance to majority of available insecticides, creates difficulties in house fly control. The present study was performed to evaluate different types of monitoring methods for indoor use: (a) spot deposit records on the cardboard; (b) fly trappings by: glue coated cardboard; (c) sticky fly strips; (d) yellow sticky cards; (e) visual records of flies on the cardboard. This study provided a clear differentiation of efficacy/usefulness of the tested methods for various house fly densities. In animal breeding units or other areas with very abundant fly population, less sensitive methods (traps are less efficient) should be selected. For these circumstances, glued cardboard or yellow sticky cards should be chosen. The "more sensitive" methods, spot cards and sticky fly strips, should be used for lower abundance of the fly population. Except for this purpose, these highly sensitive methods should be selected also in the areas where the flies should not be tolerated at any density. Although the levels of the observed fly activity significantly differ from each other, in the majority of cases they depict the similar trend of the population dynamics and relative density. The only exception to the rule was the visual method, which could not reflect the changes in the population density in the current study.Abbreviations: SDBW-spot deposit recording on the black-white patterned side and SDW on the white side of the cardboard; GCC-fly trapping by glue coated cardboard (black-white patterned side); SFS-fly trapping by sticky fly strips; YSC-fly trapping by yellow sticky cards; VBW-visual recording of alive flies resting on the black-white patterned side and VW-on white side of the cardboard.

Weather Factors Affecting the Abundance of Mosquitoes and Houseflies in Cairo International Airport

“…These results are in accordance with those found by Kavran et al (2019) who reported that the best methods for monitoring houseflies were glued cardboard or yellow sticky cards and that the more sensitive methods i.e., spot cards and sticky fly strips, should be used for lower abundance of the fly population…”

Isolation and enumeration of bacteria responsible for nosocomial infections from houseflies and determining their susceptibility to poison bait

“…The housefly (Musca domestica) has a wide distribution in all parts of the world and a close association with humans and their environment, therefore housefly can be one of the most important mechanical vectors of bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, and worm eggs (Zahn and Gerry 2020;Elyasigomari et al 2020). The results of bacterial isolation from the outer surface of the fly body show that flies can be carriers of various species of bacteria and vector of several diseases because they are common around households, garbage, human, and animal excreta (Pace et al 2017;Kavran et al 2019). This study showed that house flies can carry dangerous bacteria such as P. aeruginosa, E. coli, and S. aureus that are medically important.…”

The landscape of fear in cattle farms? How the presence of barn swallow influences the activity of pest flies

“…The activity of the fly populations in the sheds was monitored following the protocol of Axtell (1970) and Gerry (2020a), using the spot card method. Through spot cards—white index cards (10 × 15 cm)—it is possible to count regurgitation and faecal spots produced by flies resting on the spot card (Gerry et al., 2011; Kavran et al., 2019; Machtinger & Burgess IV, 2020). The amount of spots per card per week provides a measure of fly activity, hence spot counts are used as an index to measure the overall activity of flies inside each target shed and relate it to both environmental conditions (Ceden et al., 1992; Gerry, 2020a) and the presence of other within‐shed drivers (Lysyk & Axtell, 1985).…”