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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #158465
Title: MASS-REARING BENEFICIAL INSECTS FOR BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF FLIES

Author
item Geden, Christopher - Chris

Submitted to: Proceedings of Workshop on Global Int Org Biocontrol (IOBC) Working Group
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/2003
Publication Date: 9/1/2003
Citation: GEDEN, C.J. MASS-REARING BENEFICIAL INSECTS FOR BIOLOGICAL CONTROL OF FLIES. PROCEEDINGS OF WORKSHOP ON GLOBAL INT ORG BIOCONTROL (IOBC) WORKING GROUP. 2003.

Interpretive Summary: N/A for proceeding.

Technical Abstract: This is a summary of an invited talk given at the IOBC workshop on Arthropod Mass rearing and Quality Control in Montpellier, France, in September of 2003. Quality control of mass-reared biocontrol agents for flies begins with the economical production of house flies. Flies can be produced for about 50 cents per batch of 10,000 fly pupae. Rearing parasitic wasps requires selection of wasps with good performance and production characteristics. Once the species has been selection, attention must be paid to maintaining host:wasp ratios that result in uniform rates of rates. Wasp colonies must also be monitored for disease and other problems that arise under mass-rearing conditions.