Studies on the life-cycles of two species of soldier flies (diptera, stratiomyidae) which affect sugar-cane in queensland

Abstract

AbstractIn Queensland, adults of the soldier flies Inopus rubriceps (Macq.) and I. flavus (James) emerge between March and June, usually on still warm days. The females mate and oviposit on the day of emergence, the eggs being deposited close to the soil surface under small clods or in cracks. Incubation takes 6–13 days, depending on temperature. Observations on larvae reared on maize seedlings showed that the wide size range in field populations of larvae at all times of the year was due to the differing rates of development of larvae of one generation, to overlapping generations and to a difference in size between the sexes. One-third of the larvae matured to adults at the end of one year, but only a few of the remainder survived to emerge as adults after two years, one-year larvae having 8–9 instars, and two-year larvae having 10–12. Pupation occurred within the last larval skin, and the pupal period lasted three weeks.