Potential Efficacy of Olyset Mosquito Netting Against Calliphora nigribarbis (Diptera: Calliphoridae) Invasion into Livestock Barns

Abstract

Calliphora nigribarbis Vollenhoven is a possible mechanical transmitter of highly pathogenic avian influenza. Based on laboratory tests, we evaluated the efficacy of a long-lasting permethrin-treated mosquito netting, known as the Olyset net, for the prevention of this species entering livestock barns. Flies were trapped in Olyset net cages, and two statistics for knockdown and lethal efficacies were obtained. Median knockdown time in the cage (KT50) was estimated to be 341 s for females, and median lethal time after exposure to the mesh (LT50) was estimated to be 30 s and <15 s for females and males, respectively. These LT50s were faster than those measured for anesthetized stationary flies brought in contact with the Olyset net (>120 s for both sexes), indicating that a fly's spontaneous contact with the Olyset net accelerates insecticide adhesion. The rate of permethrin adhesion to C. nigribarbis after its spontaneous contact with the Olyset net was estimated to be 3.7 ng/s for females, in reference to the 50% lethal dose (LD50) value (112 ng/female), which was obtained from the topical application bioassay of permethrin. The lethality exhibited after brief spontaneous contact with the Olyset net suggests its potential utility in poultry farms against C. nigribarbis invasion. © 2012 Entomological Society of America.