It sounds a no-brainer. Offer the flies something tasty to
eat that doesn’t keep moving and swishing its tail, and they might prefer to
feed there. However, a recently published study suggests that it is not
that
simple.
Tracey L Tam and Saundra
Tenbroeck of the Department of Animal Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville,
and Jerome Hogsette of the USDA-ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural and
Veterinary Entomology in Gainsesville, conducted a study to investigate whether
sticky traps could be used to help protect horses from the bites of the stable
fly, Stomoxys calcitrans.
Stomoxys calcitran causes irritation and distress to a variety
of animals (and humans). Adults of both sexes are vicious blood-feeders and inflict
painful bites with their long piercing proboscis. Their preferred feeding sites
are on the lower legs of horses and cattle, and around the ankles in humans.
The study set out to see how well commercially available fly
traps placed at various distances from a horse provide protection from stable
fly bites.
The researchers applied fluorescent dust to the eight chestnut
mares used in the study. This allowed them to identify which flies had fed off the
horse. Different coloured dust was used on different days.
They found that more than 40% of flies captured on traps
placed closest to the horses were marked and had fed on the horse before
getting caught. So, the traps had not stopped
the flies visiting the horses.
Some trapped flies were marked with more than one colour,
indicating that flies could visit the horses more than once without being
trapped.
Some marked and unmarked stable flies showed signs of blood
in their guts indicating recent feeding.
The authors conclude that, although the traps caught ample
numbers of stable flies, they did not prevent them feeding on the horses.
They suggest: “More work is needed to determine optimal trap
placement and densities required to maximize stable fly management with traps.”
For more details, see:
Can attractive sticky traps be used to protect horses from the bites of
Stomoxys calcitrans (L.) (Diptera: Muscidae).
Tam TL, Hogsette J, TenBroeck S.
J Econ Entomol. 2019 Jun 22. pii: toz134.
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