[Syrphidae] Mating syrphids

[William Chaney]

Hi Chris,

Yes we did placed virgin reared females in the cages and successfully  
mated them with both reared males and field collected males.  Mating  
occurred in most species shortly after eclosion, and was followed by  
a pre-oviposition period of several days.  This system did not work  
for all of the species we tried, Syrphus opinator was not successful  
with repeated attempts, and a few other, but these were single attempts.

You might also wish to contact Mario Ambrsinio  
(ambrosim at science.oregonstate.edu), I don't know if he is on this  
list, but did some syrphid mating work at Oregon State and published  
a couple syrphid papers in the last 2 or 3 years.

Good luck,
Bill


On Jun 15, 2009, at 12:21 PM, Chris Bergh wrote:

> Bill,
>
> Thanks for that. Any pertinent information and details would be  
> greatly appreciated. When you refer to mating, did you actually  
> achieve mating in the buckets or were the females mated prior to  
> placing them in the buckets?
>
> Thanks - Chris
>
> At 03:03 PM 6/15/2009, you wrote:
>> Chris,
>>
>> I had success mating and rearing a few of the important aphid  
>> feeding species in Salinas a few years ago.  Sphaerophoria spp.  
>> and Toxomerus spp.were easy.  I used 5 gallon plastic buckets with  
>> ventilation in the sides as well as a sleeve opening and a clear  
>> plastic top. I used flowering alyssum plants for pollen and  
>> streaked honey on the sides.  I then placed aphid infested lettuce  
>> plants into the cage and the females would readily oviposit on  
>> them.  I changed them daily and hatched the eggs in a growth chamber.
>>
>> I can provide more details if you would like.
>>
>> Bill Chaney
>> Entomology Farm Advisor, retired
>> University of California
>>
>> On Jun 15, 2009, at 5:55 AM, Chris Bergh wrote:
>>
>>> Greetings,
>>>
>>> I am in need of any information or advice regarding mating  
>>> syrphids in captivity (any species would be fine, although I work  
>>> with a Pipizine). This information could be from cage studies or  
>>> (ideally) under quarantine conditions. As well, if any of you  
>>> have any information or records regarding parasitism of any  
>>> Pipizine syrphid by any Diplazon species, that would be most  
>>> useful, too.
>>>
>>> Thanks very much for your help. - Chris
>>>
>>> J. Christopher Bergh
>>> Associate Professor of Entomology
>>> Virginia Tech AHS-AREC
>>> 595 Laurel Grove Road
>>> Winchester, VA 22602
>>> Tel (540) 869-2560 xt.32
>>> Fax (540) 869-0862
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Syrphidae mailing list
>>> Syrphidae at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
>>> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/syrphidae
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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> J. Christopher Bergh
> Associate Professor of Entomology
> Virginia Tech AHS-AREC
> 595 Laurel Grove Road
> Winchester, VA 22602
> Tel (540) 869-2560 xt.32
> Fax (540) 869-0862
>
> _______________________________________________
> Syrphidae mailing list
> Syrphidae at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/syrphidae

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