[Syrphidae] Hoverfly diet - Aphid content ?

[Ludovic Arnaud]

Dear All,

We are currently trying to find an artificial diet to culture Episyrphus 
balteatus. We found some good diets, but even if we are able to  keep the 
larvae alive for about two weeks, they do not pupate and die. I was 
wondering if any of you have already try such culture with artificial diet 
? Do you have any trick to suggest ?

Also, we think that the sugar we are using in the diet could be wrong 
compared to the sugar found in the aphids ? And aphids probably contain 
some specific chemicals which are indispensable to favour larval 
development and pupation, but we did not find any good references about 
aphid chemical content/composition. Does any of you know such a good paper 
where we could find all we need to know about aphids and their 
sugar/sterol/etc... content ?

Thank you very much in advance for your help and collaboration.

All the very best, Ludovic

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Dr Ludovic Arnaud
Unité d'Entomologie fonctionnelle et évolutive
Faculté universitaire des Sciences agronomiques de Gembloux
Passage des déportés, 2
B-5030 Gembloux

Department of functional and evolutionary Entomology
Gembloux Agricultural University
Passage des déportés, 2
B-5030 Gembloux, Belgium

Tel.: +32 (0)81 62 23 44
Fax: +32 (0)81 62 23 12
e-mail: arnaud.l at fsagx.ac.be
          entomologie at fsagx.ac.be
web site: http://www.fsagx.ac.be/zg/sommaire.htm
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