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Age structure of overwintered face fly populations estimated by pteridine concentrations and ovarian dynamics
Author(s) -
Krafsur E. S.,
Rosales A. L.,
Kim Y.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
medical and veterinary entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2915
pISSN - 0269-283X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2915.1999.00132.x
Subject(s) - biology , pteridine , dynamics (music) , evolutionary biology , biochemistry , enzyme , physics , acoustics
.Pteridines in the head capsules of face flies, Musca autumnalis DeGeer, were measured spectrofluorometrically to provide estimates of age. The flies also were dissected to determine ovarian development and fat body hypertrophy. Physiological ages in terms of degree‐day accumulations were estimated among late autumn, winter, and early spring face flies. The reproductive history of eight overwintered face fly populations near Ames, Iowa, U.S.A., suggested that each had behaved as a single cohort, maturing their eggs and ovipositing according to a simple heat unit model. 83.8 ± 16.4 degree‐days above a 12° threshold ( DD > 12° ) were estimated to elapse between 1 January and the date at which 50% of overwintered cohorts had oviposited. Pteridine deposits indicated that diapausing females in late autumn had acquired a mean 96 ± 36 DD > 9.8° and the males 135 ± 39 DD > 9.8° . Soon after emergence from hibernaculae, females were average physiological ages of 135 ± 25 DD > 9.8° and the males were 152 ± 28 DD > 9.8° . Mean physiological age of overwintered females was 155 ± 37 DD > 9.8° compared with 110 ± 38 DD > 9.8° among parous flies in summer. Overwintered males in spring were an average 175 ± 41 DD > 9.8° compared with 144 ± 65 DD > 9.8° among summer flies.