Comparative studies on the blowfly, Lucilia caesar (Diptera, Calliphoridae) reared from three rearing media prepared from local materials, and the standard Snyder's medium

Abstract

Biological and morphometric studies of the different stages of Lucilia caesar, were carried out using three rearing media prepared from local materials as the test media, and the standard Snyder’s medium as control. The materials for the test media were: (i) Garri, soybeans, palmwine and liver (GSPL), (ii) Garri, soybeansand palmwine (GSP) and (iii) Pap, nono, cabbage and liver (PNCL). The Snyder’s medium consists of milk, yeast and bacto agar (MYA). There was no significant difference in the duration of larval instars and adult emergence for the blowflies reared in the standard, PNCLand GSPL media. For blowflies reared in GSP, duration of larval and adult stages was prolonged by about 48 hr and 5 days respectively, when compared with the flies reared from the other three media. The average length and width of each larval stage reared from the four media were not significantly different. Morphometrics of the adults showed that those reared from the GSPL and control media were longer, heavier, and laid significantly more eggs per female than adults reared from PNCL and GSP media. The GSPL medium was considered to be the most suitable alternative to MYA.