A Simple Method of Rearing Hylemya brassicae (Bouché) (Diptera: Anthomyiidae)

Abstract

Investigations at Fredericton requiring specific instars of the cabbage maggot, Hylemya brassicae (Bouché), led to studies of laboratory methods for rearing this insect. Previous attempts to rear H. brassicae had proved unsuccessful since the species does not reproduce readily under artificial conditions. Slingerland (1894) was unable to obtain eggs of this species, though his cages contained hundreds of adults. Washburn (1906) reported that adults that had matured in the field would oviposit in cages. Schoene (1916) used adults that had emerged in the laboratory as well as some fresh-looking individuals captured at large. These were supplied with water and some cruciferous plants, as well as banana, sugar, water, and blossoms of weeds common in his community. Adults fed readily upon the sweetened mixture and decaying banana, and lived four to eight weeks. One female was dissected and found to contain 13 full-sized eggs, but no reference to oviposition was made.