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Hi Chris,<div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>You might also wish to contact Mario Ambrsinio (<a href="mailto:ambrosim@science.oregonstate.edu">ambrosim@science.oregonstate.edu</a>), 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.</div><div><br></div><div>Good luck,</div><div>Bill</div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Jun 15, 2009, at 12:21 PM, Chris Bergh wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"> Bill,<br><br> 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?<br><br> Thanks - Chris<br><br> At 03:03 PM 6/15/2009, you wrote:<br> <blockquote type="cite" class="cite" cite="">Chris,<br><br> 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.<br><br> I can provide more details if you would like.<br><br> Bill Chaney<br> Entomology Farm Advisor, retired<br> University of California<br><br> On Jun 15, 2009, at 5:55 AM, Chris Bergh wrote:<br><br> <blockquote type="cite" class="cite" cite="">Greetings,<br><br> 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.<br><br> Thanks very much for your help. - Chris<br><br> J. Christopher Bergh<br> Associate Professor of Entomology<br> Virginia Tech AHS-AREC<br> 595 Laurel Grove Road<br> Winchester, VA 22602<br> Tel (540) 869-2560 xt.32<br> Fax (540) 869-0862 <br><br> _______________________________________________<br> Syrphidae mailing list<br> <a href="mailto:Syrphidae@lists.nottingham.ac.uk"> Syrphidae@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</a><br> <a href="http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/syrphidae" eudora="autourl"> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/syrphidae</a></blockquote> <br> _______________________________________________<br> Syrphidae mailing list<br> <a href="mailto:Syrphidae@lists.nottingham.ac.uk">Syrphidae@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</a><br> <a href="http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/syrphidae" eudora="autourl"> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/syrphidae</a></blockquote> <x-sigsep><p> J. Christopher Bergh<br> Associate Professor of Entomology<br> Virginia Tech AHS-AREC<br> 595 Laurel Grove Road<br> Winchester, VA 22602<br> Tel (540) 869-2560 xt.32<br> Fax (540) 869-0862 </p></x-sigsep><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Syrphidae mailing list</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="mailto:Syrphidae@lists.nottingham.ac.uk">Syrphidae@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</a></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/syrphidae">http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/syrphidae</a></div> </blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>