Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz ISSN: 1678-8060 EISSN: 1678-8060 Vol. 97, Num. 2, 2002, pp. 281-283

Mem 
  Inst Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Vol. 97(2) 2002, pp. 281-283
SHORT COMMUNICATION 
Thermal 
  Constant of an Experimental Population of Muscina stabulans (Fallén 1817) 
  (Diptera:Muscidae) in the Laboratory 
Luciene Maura Mascarini/+, 
  Ângelo Pires do Prado* 
Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto 
  de Biociências, Unesp, Rubião Junior s/n°, 18618-000 Botucatu, SP, Brasil *Departamento 
  de Parasitologia, Instituto de Biologia, Unicamp, Campinas, SP, Brasil 

  +Corresponding author. 
  Fax: +55-14-6821.3744. E-mail: luciene@ibb.unesp.br 
Finnancial support: Capes 
 Received 9 March 2001 

  Accepted 5 November 2001 
Code Number: oc02053
A study was conducted to investigate 
  the thermal constant in an experimental population of Muscina stabulans 
  (Fallén 1817). A natural population was obtained from a livestock and their 
  F1 generations were maintained at four constant temperatures (16°C, 
  20°C, 26°C and 31°C). The thermal constant was calculated by the hyperbole method 
  using the base temperature, tb = 4.4°C and the thermal constant K = 35.3 GD. 
  Ricker's geometric regression, considering tb = 7.8°C and K = 28.9 GD was also 
  calculated. 
Key words: Muscina stabulans - 
  thermal constant - constant temperature
Muscina stabulans (Fallén 
  1817) (Diptera: Muscidae) a common eusinanthropic fly in farms and orchards, 
  may be associated with human dwellings (Smith 1986). In addition, it can play 
  a role in the control of some Diptera species because of its predatory habits 
  on their larvae (Legner & Dietrich 1989). The growth pattern and development 
  of insects are influenced by temperature and can be measured under laboratory 
  conditions. It is possible to estimate the number of generations per year and 
  the potential ability of population increase of at a specific temperature by 
  measuring developmental period, mortality and oviposition pattern under constant 
  temperature conditions (Howe 1967). The thermal requirements of an insect can 
  be appraised by the thermal constant (K), expressed in degree-days (Haddad & 
  Parra 1984). This method has been utilized for many years in forecasting the 
  occurrence of infestations in agriculture and the thermal constant can be used 
  as indicators of the distribution and abundance of insect populations. The objective 
  of this study was to establish a thermal constant for a population of M. 
  stabulans. 
Experimental populations of M. 
  stabulans were obtained from livestock farm Capuavinha (26º57'S, 47º19'W), 
  town of Monte-Mor, SP, Brazil. These flies were transferred to cages (30 cm 
  x 15 cm x 15 cm), where they were fed yeast suggar and water and maintened at 
  27 ±  30°C. Two thousand eggs were collected and dividided into 40 pots 
  (9.5 cm x 7.5 cm) with 50 eggs/pots and 10 pots (replicates) at each temperature: 
  16°C, 20°C, 26°C and 31°C, tainning 200 g of fermented of Labina-Purina mouse 
  ration. To these pots, a further 300 g of mouse ration was added and the larvae 
  allowed to grow until pupation. Pupae were removed and transferred to other 
  cages, where they hatched. The total development time was recorded. The basic 
  development temperature to calculate the thermal constant was determined by 
  the hyperbole method (Bean 1961), using the total development times from the 
  four constant temperature groups. Thermal constant was obtained from the equation 
  K = D(T-Tb), where K = constant thermal, D = development time (hours), T = temperature 
  in which the insect grew and Tb = basic temperature of the insect, obtained 
  from the Healthy linear regression program (1986) and from Ricker's geometric 
  average (1986) regression program (Krebs 1989). 
The Table 
  shows the total development time from larval to adult stage. Average larval 
  development times decreased with increasing temperature. This was inversely 
  proportional to increase in temperature, except at 31°C when development time 
  was longer than at 26°C. The data obtained at 26ºC are similar to those obtained 
  by Kobayashi and Mizushina (1937) with 14.06 days of total development time, 
  Vinogradova and Marcenko (1984), 12.9 days, and Krzywinski (1993) who analyzed 
  the thermal constant at 28ºC, obtaining an average of 12.9 to 14 days. The total 
  development time, observed by Lewallén (1952) at 26.7ºC, was longer (20-25) 
  that obtained in our study (12.8 days). Thermal requirements were estimated 
  by determining the thermal constant K and expressed in degree-days. Fig. 1 shows the regression analysis, 
  which showed Tb = 4.4°C and K = 35.3 GD, and Fig. 2 shows Ricker's regression with 
  Tb = 7.8°C and K = 28.9 GD. 
Insect body temperature is probably 
  more important than environmental temperature in influencing behavior (Chapmam 
  1983). Temperature limits can be established by inactivity and by the destruction 
  of some enzymes (Howe 1967). Lethal temperature limits are metabolically regulated 
  by enzymes. Metabolic pattern is measured by oxygen consumption, and when ambient 
  temperature is close to the maximum limit, metabolism is reduced, probably due 
  to denaturation of enzymes (Chapman 1983). The knowledge of the thermal requirements 
  of insects estimated by basic temperature and thermal constant permits, temporarily, 
  store insects under certain artificial conditions, facilitating study program 
  and field work (Aguiar-Valgorde & Milward Azevedo 1992). The threshold and 
  thermal constant can also be used as indicators of distribution and abundance 
  of insect populations (Messenger 1959). From these models, temperature occupies 
  a prominent place, because it is a metodologic component that affects insect 
  populations and is easy to predict. 
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© 2002  
  Instituto Oswaldo Cruz - Fiocruz

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