Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #411480
Research Project: Improved Surveillance and Control of Stable Flies, House Flies, and Other Filth Flies

Location: Mosquito and Fly Research

Title: Comparative susceptibility of adult house fly (Diptera: Muscidae) and an important predator, Carcinops pumilio (Coleoptera: Histeridae), to Beauveria bassiana (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae)

Author
item Geden, Christopher - Chris
item White, Roxie
item Pagac, Alexandra
item MACHTINGER, ERIKA - Pennsylvania State University

Submitted to: Journal of Medical Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/26/2024
Publication Date: 6/3/2024
Citation: Geden, C.J., White, R.L., Pagac, A.A., Machtinger, E.T. 2024. Comparative susceptibility of adult house fly (Diptera: Muscidae) and an important predator, Carcinops pumilio (Coleoptera: Histeridae), to Beauveria bassiana (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae). Journal of Medical Entomology. 61(4):1009-1015. https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjae075.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjae075

Interpretive Summary: House flies are important global pests of humans and their associated animals. The flies are notoriously difficult to control with insecticides because of their ability to rapidly develop resistance to new chemical toxicants soon after their introduction into the marketplace. House flies have many natural enemies that can exploited as biological control agents, including parasitoids, predators, and entomopathogenic fungi such as Beauveria bassiana. It is important to know whether the use of one biological control agent can have a negative effect on another and whether combinations of such agents are helpful or harmful for fly control. In this study, researchers at USDA-ARS’s Center for Medical Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology (Gainesville, FL) and Pennsylvania State University compared the relative impact of Beauveria bassiana on adult house flies and the fly’s most important predator, the beetle Carcinops pumilio. Flies were much more susceptible than beetles to Beauveria under all testing scenarios. The results demonstrate that these two natural enemies can safely be combined for fly management programs.

Technical Abstract: Five strains of Beauveria bassiana (GHA, HF23, L90, NFH10 and PSU1), were used to test the comparative susceptibility of adult house flies (Musca domestica) and adult Carcinops pumilio using different laboratory exposure methods. Adult house flies were susceptible to B. bassiana in both contact filter paper assays (89-98% mortality) and immersion assays (100% mortality) at the same 10EXP8 conidia suspension using 0.1% CapSil as an aqueous surfactant. Carcinops pumilio were less susceptible than flies to B. bassiana infection using both the contact and immersion assays at the same 108 conidial concentration, with 4.4-12.2% and 8.3-24.6% mortality, respectively. For both house flies and beetles, immersion in an aqueous conidial suspension resulted in higher mortality compared to contact with treated filter papers at the same 10EXP8 concentration. We conclude that C. pumilio can safely be used with B. bassiana in animal production systems.