title: Livestock bedding effects on two species of parasitoid wasps of filth flies.
abstract: Choice of livestock bedding has been shown to affect density of filth fly maggots. Here, laboratory experiments indicate that bedding type can also affect natural enemies of the flies, specifically the parasitoid wasps Spalangia endius Walker and Urolepis rufipes (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) parasitizing a natural host, the house fly Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae). For both parasitoid species, when females parasitized hosts under bedding, cedar shavings resulted in fewer parasitoids compared with pine shavings, but pine shavings did not differ from wood pellets and corn cob pellets. In the absence of exposure to hosts, longevity of adult females was reduced in cedar shavings compared with pine shavings and pellets. In contrast to the effects on parasitization and on adult survival, shavings treatment had no significant effect on the number of parasitoids or flies that emerged when hosts were not exposed to shavings until after parasitization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb 60115, IL bking@niu.edu.
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb 60115, IL Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence 66045, KS.
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Colyott
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb 60115, IL Molecular and Environmental Toxicology Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706, WI.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Chesney
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D005260:Female; D005430:Floors and Floorcoverings; D006793:Houseflies / Q000254:growth & development / Q000469:parasitology*; D006799:Housing, Animal; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development / Q000469:parasitology / Q000502:physiology; D008136:Longevity; D011679:Pupa / Q000254:growth & development / Q000469:parasitology / Q000502:physiology; D014863:Wasps / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Musca domestica; Spalangia; Urolepis; parasitism; substrate