The effect of bait age and season on trap catch of blow fly species composition (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in a suburban habitat

Abstract

We document the blow fly species caught at two baited traps from May to July 2021 in a suburban region of southern Ontario. Baited traps were deployed in a residential area of St Catharines, Ontario, which captured blow flies from 7 species, the most abundant being Lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826) (878) and Phormia regina Meigen, 1826 (397). Traps were baited with chicken drumsticks of various ages. We found that trap catch increased from late spring to summer, but there was no effect of bait age on the number of flies caught.