House Fly Response to Fluorescent Lamps: Influenced by Fly Age and Nutrition, Air Temperature, and Position of Lamps1

Abstract

Blacklight (BL) and blacklight blue (BLB) fluorescent lamps at an elevation of 2 m were more attractive to Musca domestica L. in barns than were lamps at an elevation of 0.6 m, and most attracted flies were males. Males responded best to BL lamps at both 0.6 and 2 m when they were 3 days old, but best to the 0.6-m lamp when 5 to 6 days old. Females responded best and equally to both elevations when they were 5 days old. At 28¼C, fed males preferred BLB lamps at 2 m, but hungry males and fed and hungry females preferred lamps 0.6 m above the floor. At. 19¼C, male flies were more responsive to BLB than were female flies and preferred the 2-m lamp; at 30¼C, they were less responsive than females at both elevations and preferred the 0.6-m lamp.