[Syrphidae] Rearing aphidophagous species

[Francis Gilbert]

Hi Chris.  There is quite a lot in the literature on apple aphid 
predators, as you probably know, including syrphids (eg Tamaki's 
papers in the 1960s and 1970s).  Rearing to the adult should not 
be a problem since many species have no diapause; even in the 
species with diapause it shouldn't be to much of a problem.  
However, many species have never been cultured, mainly because 
of problems in getting them to mate in cages. The best reference to 
larvae and rearing is Graham Rotheray (1993) Colour guide to 
syrphid larvae. Dipterists Digest 9:1-155, published as a book and 
available from the Natural History Bookstore (www.nhbs.com).

There is also quite a lot on pesticide effects on syrphids, which are 
a standard test organism in the regulatory programme in Europe 
(see e.g. Hassan et al 1987 Z angew Ent 103: 92-107).  Adults are 
reasonably easy to identify - your best bet would probably be 
Vockeroth R (1993) The flower flies of the subfamily Syrphinae of 
Canada, Alaska and Greenland (Diptera, Syrphidae). Insects & 
Arachnids of Canada Part 18. Agriculture Canada, Ottawa.

Francis


Francis Gilbert
School of Biological Sciences, Nottingham University, Nottingham NG72RD
Tel 0115-951-3215      Fax 0115-951-3251
email francis.gilbert@nottingham.ac.uk
Internet home page  http://ibis.nott.ac.uk/~plzfg/francisg.html