Some observations on the population dynamics of the Australian soldier fly Inopus Rubriceps Macquart (Diptera: Stratiomyidae)

Abstract

Inopus rubriceps (Macquart) is an indigenous Australian stratiomyid, whose subterranean larval stage has been recorded as a pest of sugar cane and pastures in Queensland for some time (Saunders 1963 and Hitchcock 1970). I. rubriceps has been known in New Zealand since the early 1940’s (Muggeridge 1944), but it was not until the late 1960’s that the N.Z. Department of Agriculture, under considerable pressure from the farming community, finally decided to initiate research work on this insect. The present writer was employed by the Department to commence work on the development of a pest management programme to be used in a pasture agro-ecosystem. At that time, there was an almost complete lack of knowledge about any aspect of the insect’s biology and ecology under N.Z. pasture conditions. The above, together with the failure to find a suitable chemical control from several insecticidal screening trials (Hewitt 1964) precluded, at least initially, any worthwhile work on direct control methods. Clark et al (1967) have argued that in those cases where no prior hypotheses can be made about an insect, the development of life tables provides much of the background biological and ecological information needed to put the development of control measures on a rational basis. Thus, the main aim of this work was to test the feasibility of developing life tables for the Australian soldier fly, under pasture conditions.