Houseflies, Musca domestica L., are a significant pest because of the numerous diseases they transmit. Control of housefly populations, particularly at animal production facilities, is frequently done using pyrethroid insecticides which kill insects by prolonging the open time of the voltage-sensitive sodium channel (VSSC). Houseflies have evolved resistance to pyrethroids owing to mutations in...

Indoxacarb (DPX-MP062) is a recently introduced oxadiazine insecticide with activity against a wide range of pests, including house flies. It is metabolically decarbomethoxylated to DCJW. Selection of field collected house flies with indoxacarb produced a New York indoxacarb-resistant (NYINDR) strain with >118-fold resistance after three generations. Resistance in NYINDR could be partially over...

Four classes of peptidolytic enzymes were described in insects. Many authors have found predominant activity belonging to trypsin-like and chymotrypsin-like activity. By the use specific chromogenic substrates and hemoglobin we have determined enzyme activity in three stages of larval development of housefly. In contrast to above mentioned data we have found, that major part of peptidolytic act...

The role of specialized regions of insect rectal papillae in the regulation of water and ion uptake is well documented. Although the apparatus for active uptake of water or ions is located in various cell membranes, the absorbed molecules must first pass through the cuticle which lines the rectal epithelium. Most cuticle (e.g. abdominal) has been shown to be permeable only to molecules soluble ...

House flies are of major concern as vectors of food-borne pathogens to food crops. House flies are common pests on cattle feedlots and dairies, where they develop in and feed on animal waste. By contacting animal waste, house flies can acquire human pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp., in addition to other bacteria, viruses, or parasites that may infect humans and a...

Highly purified Musca ecdysteroidogenin (ESG) was obtained by extracting housefly heads with an acid-ethanol-urea procedure followed by desalting on a Sephadex G25F column and fractionation on a Sephadex G50F column. Further fractionation was done on a semi-preparative C18 reverse-phase HPLC column with an acetonitrile gradient in 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid in water. Ecdysteroidogenic activity e...

The vectoR potential of adult house flies. Musca domestica L., for Yersinia pseudotuberculosis (Pfeiffer), a pathogen of domestic animals and humans, was investigated. Adult flies were allowed to feed on trypticase soy broth (TSB) containing Y. pseudotuberculosis for 6 h and then transferred to sterile containers with sterile TSB as a source of water and nutrients. At 6-h intervals, all flies w...