EFFECT OF DEPTH OF HOUSE FLY PUPAE IN POULTRY MANURE ON PARASITISM BY SIX SPECIES OF PTEROMALIDAE (HYMENOPTERA)1

Abstract

The recoveries of pteromalid parasites from house fly, Musca domestica L., pupae placed in accumulated poultry manure at the surface and at depths of 3, 5, 10 and 15 cm were determined weekly for 10 weeks in two types of caged-layer poultry houses. No parasites were recovered from fly pupae at the 15 cm depth. Muscidifurax raptor Girault and Sanders and Pachycrepoideus vindemiae (Rondani) were the first and second most abundant house fly pupal parasites collected on the surface and 3 cm beneath the surface of the poultry manure in narrow and high-rise caged-layer poultry houses. From house fly pupae 5 cm deep, P. vindemiae was rarely recovered while 5 to 12% of the parasites recovered at that depth were M. raptor. Spalangia cameroni Perkins was the most abundant Spalangia species and was recovered mostly from pupae at 5 and 10 cm deep in the manure in both houses. Other, less abundant, Spalangia species (S. endius Walker and S. nigroaenea Curtis) were recovered from fly pupae to a depth of 10 cm beneath the manure surface in both houses. Muscidifurax zaraptor, an introduced species, was released in the narrow caged-layer poultry house, and was recovered from pupae on the surface and 3 cm deep in the manure.