Pineapple production in Costa Rica increased nearly 300-fold during the last 30 yr, and >40,000 hectares of land are currently dedicated to this crop. At the end of the pineapple cropping cycle, plants are chopped and residues incorporated into the soil in preparation for replanting. Associated with increased pineapple production has been a large increase in stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.)...

Modern dairies cause the accumulation of considerable quantity of dairy manure which is a potential hazard to the environment. Dairy manure can also act as a principal larval resource for many insects such as the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens. The black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are considered as a new biotechnology to convert dairy manure into biodiesel and sugar. BSFL are a common colo...

OBJECTIVES To determine the capacity of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) (Hermetia illucens) to convert fresh human faeces into larval biomass under different feeding regimes, and to determine how effective BSFL are as a means of human faecal waste management. METHODS Black soldier fly larvae were fed fresh human faeces. The frequency of feeding, number of larvae and feeding ratio were altered...

Araucnephia Wygodzinsky & Coscarón is a Neotropical black fly genus in which only one species from Central Chile is known. Another species has now been found in Corrientes province on the eastern side of the Iberá tropical swamps of Argentina, on the western border of the mountainous region of southern Brazil. This new species, A. iberaensis, is herein described and illustrated and information ...

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has a sophisticated visual system and exhibits complex visual behaviors. Visual responses, vision processing and higher cognitive processes in Drosophila have been studied extensively. However, little is known about whether the retinal location of visual stimuli can affect fruit fly performance in various visual tasks. We tested the response of wild-type Be...

From April 20 to May 10, 2010, multiple species of birds were seen at the Louisiana State University (LSU) Zoological Medicine Department for a disease syndrome characterized by acute lethargy, generalized subcutaneous petechiae, vasculitis, and death caused by a black fly identified as Simulium meridionale. Twenty psittacine birds presented with severe depression and multifocal subcutaneous he...

INTRODUCTION Microsporidia constitute the most common black fly pathogens, although the species' diversity, seasonal occurrence and transmission mechanisms remain poorly understood. Infections by this agent are often chronic and non-lethal, but they can cause reduced fecundity and decreased longevity. The objective of this study was to identify microsporidia infecting Simulium (Chirostilbia) pe...

The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) produces parasporal crystals containing delta-endotoxins responsible for selective insecticidal activity on larvae. Upon ingestion, these crystals are solubilized in the midgut lumen and converted into active toxins that bind to receptors present on the microvilli causing serious damage to the epithelial columnar cells. We investigated the effect of the...

Determination of the most sensitive and susceptible organismal life stage is important for use of the organism in toxicity assessments of environmental pollutants. In the present study, the sensitivities and susceptibilities of larval developmental stages of two black fly sibling species, Simulium vittatum Zetterstedt cytospecies IS-7 and S. vittatum Zetterstedt cytospecies IIIL-1, were determi...

Pineapple production in Costa Rica increased nearly 300-fold during the last 30 yr, and >40,000 hectares of land are currently dedicated to this crop. At the end of the pineapple cropping cycle, plants are chopped and residues incorporated into the soil in preparation for replanting. Associated with increased pineapple production has been a large increase in stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.)...