Effects of two blood‐feeding regimes on mortality and female reproduction in a laboratory colony of stable flies, Stomoxys calcitrans

Abstract

Stable flies (Stomoxys calcitrans L.) deprived of a bloodmeal until 3 days post-emergence had higher mortality rates than control flies fed from the day of emergence. Fat bodies of deprived females required one more bloodmeal to reach maximum size, and maximum size was smaller, than fat bodies of control females. Ovarian development did not commence prior to feeding in deprived flies, and proceeded more slowly thereafter, resulting in a one blood-meal delay in egg maturation in deprived flies. Deprived females produced fewer (54.7, SD 2.8) eggs than controls (75.9, SD 3.7) and eggs from deprived females were smaller (mean length 684.0 microns) than control females' eggs (mean length 1165.7 microns).