Breeding of the bush fly, Musca vetustissima Walker, in an over‐wintering area during winter and spring

Field experiments in an area of south‐western Australia where bush fly ( Musca vetustissima ) adults occur permanently, showed that it overwintered by continuous breeding; but only two to three generations occurred between June and September. Low survival of eggs and larvae in the food (cattle dung) from May to August was associated with rainfall rather than low temperatures. High egg‐adult survival occurred in late August; lower egg and larval survival in September and early October was attributed partly to dung fauna. Egg and larval survival was high in late October until December but predation or parasitization caused low survival of puparia outside the dung. Experimental and wild adult flies were largest and therefore most fecund in early spring; smaller wild flies in late spring appeared to result from larval competition for food. Simultaneous high egg‐adult survival, high fecundity and rapidly decreasing generation times in late winter and early spring provide a basis for explaining the major increase in adult bush fly abundance observed in some areas in mid‐spring.