The mechanisms regulating sperm transfer, storage, and use in insects are far from clear. Even in one of the most well-resolved systems for studying post-copulatory sexual selection, the yellow dung fly (Scathophaga stercoraria), the process of sperm transfer is not well understood. Our aim is to model the fluid dynamics of sperm flow in the reproductive tracts of female yellow dung flies to de...

Chemical cues, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are often essential for insects to locate food. Relative the volume of studies on role VOCs in insect-plant relationships, emitted by dung and carrion mediating behavior insect decomposers is understudied. Such relationships may provide a mechanistic understanding temporal axis community assembly processes decomposing communities. We foc...

The present review is restricted to the collation and evaluation of information describing the excretion profile and ecotoxicity of veterinary medicines developed specifically for the control of either internal or external parasites of livestock. It identifies numerous gaps in our knowledge and highlights our poor understanding of the environmental fate of many of these chemicals, especially th...

A standardized bioassay previously developed with ivermectin for the yellow dung fly (Scathophagidae) and the face fly (Muscidae) was applied to test the response of 11 dung fly species to the presumably less toxic parasiticide moxidectin. The results were compared to existing data for the same species tested with ivermectin, albeit two new species (Scathophaga suilla and Musca domestica) were ...

Even for well-established insect model systems, such as the yellow dung fly Scathophaga stercoraria (Linnaeus) (Diptera: Scathophagidae), there may be hidden systematic ambiguities that require clarification. Dung flies from the Afrotropical Region have been considered (i) as con-specific and not different from all the other Holarctic Scathophaga stercoraria; (ii) as a local and peculiar Africa...

Muscoidea is a significant dipteran clade that includes house flies (Family Muscidae), latrine flies (F. Fannidae), dung flies (F. Scathophagidae) and root maggot flies (F. Anthomyiidae). It is comprised of approximately 7000 described species. The monophyly of the Muscoidea and the precise relationships of muscoids to the closest superfamily the Oestroidea (blow flies, flesh flies etc) are bot...

Foraging provides the basis for animal reproduction, but requires energy and time to be sustained, entailing a trade-off. Whereas females should maximize their foraging resources, males minimize by optimizing budgets access mating partners. Mark-resight field studies are difficult hence uncommon small insects. Yellow dung flies ( Scathophaga stercoraria L.) abound on pastures in cold-temperate ...