Journal of Medical Entomology (1993) 30, 865-871

D.J. Leprince and L.D. Foil (1993)
Relationships among body size, blood meal size, egg volume, and egg production of Tabanus fuscicostatus (Diptera: Tabanidae)
Journal of Medical Entomology 30 (5), 865-871
Abstract: Number of ovarioles, egg production, and weight of unfed and bloodfed Tabanus fuscicostatus Hine females were related linearly to wing length. Wing length did not change whether flies were freshly thawed, preserved in formalin solution, or oven dried. Left and right wings were similar in length. The length from the costa to the anterior cross vein or to the intersection of R4 and R5 veins was associated linearly to wing length. The number of eggs produced by flies bloodfed on one or two bovine hosts was similar when adjusted by wing length. The average number of ovarioles per female was 277 ± 50 (±SD), and eggs developed in only 63% of the ovarioles after a bloodmeal. An estimated 3.1 eggs were produced for each milligram of blood ingested by a fly, and the average bloodmeal size was 110% of the unfed weight of the flies (49.7 mg). Egg volume was unrelated to body size, but was associated inversely with the number of eggs produced per female.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Database assignments for author(s): Lane D. Foil

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Tabanus fuscicostatus		U.S.A. (mid S)