Responses of the stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.) (Diptera: Muscidae), to carbon dioxide and host odours. I. Activation

Abstract

AbstractLaboratory experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of carbon dioxide and breath odours on the flight activity of Stomoxys calcitrans (L.). The flies responded to an increase in carbon dioxide concentration by an increase in flight activity (measured as the number of flights or the number of take-offs). The extent of this response was dependent on the period of starvation before exposure and the level of the increase in the carbon dioxide concentration. Flies rapidly habituated or adapted to new levels of carbon dioxide. Expired human breath elicited a greater increase in flight activity than would be predicted from its carbon dioxide content, and it was shown that the increased activity was caused by breath odours acting synergistically with an increase in the carbon dioxide concentration.