Chantal,
Could you provide a little more information please? I am not familiar with "Egle". What species is this and what are the natural hosts for the larvae. That will be a big help in getting started in giving you assistance. I have experience rearing Delia sp. that may be useful in your studies.
Dear Clifford,
Egle is a genus of Anthomyiidae. It are small black flies that measure only a few mm. The English name of the genus Egle is "willow catkin flies". This name is very striking, because the imagos feed on pollen and nectar of willow catkins and the larvae develop inside the seeds.
My objective is to collect female willow catkins of which one or more seeds are affected by Egle larvae and to rear the larvae and identify the corresponding imagines. In natural conditions the larvae become pupae about at the moment when the catkins fall on the ground.
A have a preliminary setup: I use PET bottles that I fill half with potting soil, than I add some old leaves and small branches and then I add the affected catkin + 2 extra catkins to make sure that there is enough food for the larvae. In the bottom of the bottle a make many small holes and I bury the bottle half in the ground in my garden to simulate natural conditions of soil humidity and temperature. The top of the bottle is covered with netting.
However I think I have 2 problems:
- I'm afraid the PET bottles will not survive the winter.
- When the PET bottles are in the sun, there is condense on the inner side of the bottle. So I'm afraid the bottles work like a greenery.
All remarks and suggestions are welcome.
Best wishes,
Chantal
Hi Chantal,
About your two worries, my opinions are;
Pet bottles can survive the winter, but netting might be problematic. Wire or teflon mesh fixed with silicon could work good.
And if there is enough ventilation, it minimizes the greenhouse effect.
I didn't understand why you are doing it in the field? You could do it in the lab.
Dear Alican,
Thanks to reassure me about the PET bottles.
About the ventilation; there is only ventilation via the neck of the bottle. And that may be not enough.
Chantal
Hi Chantal
I don't have a solution for your problem because we haven't worked with the Egle genus; however I have also a question: did you ever observe any parasitoids hatching from your catkin seeds? When yes, Pteromalids? Woud be interested in these specimens!
best
Stefan
Hi Chantal,
Just found your question by accident, and I'm not sure if my answer is relevant anymore, but I have been rearing a lot of Egles from catkins of different willow species, and they seem to be super-easy. I have used plastic jars with a few cm of sand and Sphagnum moss on the bottom (mainly for moisture control), but just collecting masses of infested catkins in ziploc bags with tissue paper works fine. I keep the jars and bags at +1C over the winter, but take them out already in March-April, the first flies come out in a few days. I get a lot of Egles, but also cecidomyiids, beetles, Pontopristia sawflies, and various parasitoids.
Best wishes,
Tommi
Many thanks for your interesting answer!
Do you close the jars with a plastic lid? And do you add any water during the winter? Do you keep the plastic bags closed the whole winter? No problems with mould???
Do you kept the samples in the dark?
I'm very curious. Did you found a relation between willow species and Egle species?
Best wishes,
Chantal
First off, breeding is not a tough process. Based on my experience rearing insects, I believe the order Diptera is simple to breed. I believe it is simple to control the breeding of Hermetia illucens (Black Soldier) or Ceratitis capitata (Medfly) by comparison to other species of insects.
On order to obtain the eggs, adult reproduction typically takes place in love cages. For feeding larvae after eggs hatch, you need a wet substrate that is rich in nutrients. The following environmental factors need to be controlled in order to provide excellent breeding: humidity, temperature, photoperiod, lighting, etc. However, if you want to start a mass breeding, I advise you to look at the black soldier breeding methods that are widely available online.
I believe it's really simple to do a little laboratory breeding, so good luck.
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