The Dog Fly Problem in the Florida Panhandle

Past, Present, FutureJames E. Cilek, Ph.D.

Public Health Entomology Research & Education Center

College of Engineering Sciences, Technology & Agriculture

Florida A & M University

1936--King & Lenert reported on annual outbreaks of stable flies along Florida's northwest coast (Carrabelle to Pensacola Beach)

authors thought Sargassum possible developmental media for larvae

1942-1946 US Army Air Forces, USDA-Bureau of Entomology & Plant Quarantine and Federal Security Agency-USPHS cooperative Dog Fly Control Program for protection of military activities of Northwestern Florida

Dog flies found to develop in bay grasses-- treated with creosote in bay water (later DDT) applied at high pressure (Escambia-Wakulla)

No control activity until 1953 when Mosquito Control Districts were starting to form in Panhandle

West Florida Arthropod Lab (PHEREC) established 1964 primarily to develop strategies for the control of the dog fly in the north gulf region of Florida (Chapter 388 F.S.)

WFARL Dog Fly Research

• Screening the effectiveness of various insecticides against adults

• Testing insecticide application methods (thermal and ULV)

• Evaluated juvenile hormone analogs when applied to larval developmental media for larval control

• Methoxychlor recommended to treat bay grasses for adult emergence control

• Sticky traps developed for sampling adult populations

• Evaluation of different types of traps for adult surveillance

WFARL Dog Fly Research (continued)

1980-86 Florida Department of Health and USDA coop agreement to re-examine the basic biology and behavioral patterns of this fly pest

Special emphasis was placed on relationship of weather systems and fly migration

Project Results Found:

• Larval habitats were primarily decaying vegetation from agricultural zone (e.g. from dairies using hay round bales, green chop, silage but NOT bay grasses)

Project Results Found:

• Large numbers of flies on Gulf beaches during late summer-early fall resulted when winds were sustained northerly, esp. after passage of cold fronts

Project Results Found:

• Lab-reared flies can fly as far as 70 miles inland to the Gulf beaches

• Wild flies can migrate as far as 141 miles following passage of frontal system (from SE AL or SW GA?)

Control

Adulticiding with naled (Dibrom©) via aircraft once a landing rate of 5 flies per minute is achieved in the targeted area for treatment

Control

Adulticiding with naled (Dibrom©) via aircraft once a landing rate of 5 flies per minute is achieved in the targeted area for treatment

Still considered the BEST method of control

Current Research

Solar electrocution fly traps for use on dairy farms

Adhesive-treated decoys

THE FUTURE• Historically, dog flies have always been a perennial

problem in the Florida Panhandle

• This fly pest will continue to plague the area because of unique meterological conditions

• Aerial adult control should continue to be the primary component of any effective effort to reduce annoyance by this pest because the immature stage is not concentrated in easily accessible areas for manipulation