EFFECT OF BOVINE BLOOD-PLASMA AND ERYTHROCYTE DIETS ON ADULT HORN FLY, HAEMATOBIA-IRRITANS (L) (DIPTERA, MUSCIDAE), MORTALITY AND OOGENESIS

Egg production of horn fly, Haematobia irritans (L.), adults fed a diet of erythrocytes was significantly less than flies fed the standard laboratory diet of citrated bovine blood, but this difference is inconsequential for colony production. Flies fed erythrocyte diets resorbed fewer oocytes in the ovaries than flies fed a bovine blood plasma diet. Adult mortality did not differ significantly among flies fed the plasma diet and the erythrocyte diet. This work confirms that a requirement exists for erythrocytes or some component of erythrocytes in the horn fly diet for oogenesis to occur.