Oviposition site selection by gravid females is an important determinant of the distribution, abundance, and dynamics of dipteran hematophagous insects. The presence of conspecific immature stages in a potential oviposition site could, on the one hand, indicate the suitability of that site but on the other hand could indicate the potential for intraspecific competition. In this paper, we presen...

Horse and cow dung were tested as substrates for oviposition by the stable fly Stomoxys calcitrans (L) (Diptera: Muscidae) in laboratory cages. Odour alone from either horse or cow dung was sufficient to attract flies for oviposition. This was confirmed in wind tunnel experiments, where both horse and cow dung were shown to attract gravid stable flies. However, when S. calcitrans was offered a ...

Longevity, duration of the oviposition period, realized fecundity, potential fecundity, and egg fertility of the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner), were examined in the laboratory under three different adult diet regimes. All parameters were signiÞcantly reduced for the water-only diet compared with 10% honey or sucrose diets, except fertility, which could not be measured after 5 d beca...

In mutual intraguild predation (IGP), the role of individual guild members is strongly context dependent and, during ontogeny, can shift from an intraguild (IG) prey to a food competitor or to an IG predator. Consequently, recognition of an offspring's predator is more complex for IG than classic prey females. Thus, IG prey females should be able to modulate their oviposition decisions by integ...

1 Abstract Contact chemoreceptors (basiconic sensilla) located on the ovipositor and genital segments of the locust serve to control the chemical features of the substrate before and during oviposition. They occur dispersed and also crowded in fields between mechanosensory exteroceptors sensitive to touch or wind (trichoid and filiform sensilla). The central nervous projections of their four ch...