Comparison Of Known Age With Physiological Aging In The Adult Female House Fly, Musca Domestica L.

Abstract

The physiological maturation of ♀ house flies was correlated with their calendar age using ovarian dissection techniques. Maturation of the first batch of eggs did not begin until 24 hr following emergence, at which time juvenile characters had disappeared in most flies. The earliest ovipositions occurred on the 4th day following emergence. Nulliparous flies were found during each day of the study, and a relatively large proportion of the flies studied had not progressed beyond the 1st cycle, even by the 21st day. Parous flies were found beginning on the 4th day, but generally comprised only slightly more than half the sample from older age groups. It was not possible to determine the exact number of ovipositions of parous flies by inspection of internal organs.