Diapause potential in tropical flesh flies

Publication Type

Journal Article

Journal Name

Nature

Publication Date

12-1-1974

Abstract

FLESH flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) of the temperate region use the short, cool days of late summer and early autumn as a reliable cue to signal the advent of winter1,2. Flies may enter an overwintering pupal diapause in August, and the adults will not emerge until the following May2. Tropical flies, by contrast, are not exposed to a regularly occurring season of lethal temperatures, and flesh flies from Nairobi, Kenya, have been reared outside throughout the year without the occurrence of diapause (D. L. D., unpublished). Yet four species from equatorial Africa that have been examined, Sarcophaga inzi, S. monospila, Poecilometopa punctipennis and P. spilogaster, have all demonstrated the potential to enter pupal diapause. During diapause in both the temperate1,2 and tropical species, pupal development is halted at the early phaenerocephalic stage. © 1974 Nature Publishing Group.

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