Abstract:
Black flies are opportunistic sugar-feeders. They take sugar meals from
Homopteran honeydew secretions or plant nectars, depending on availability.
Homopteran honeydew secretions contain both simple and complex carbohydrates while
plant nectars contain primarily simple carbohydrates. In order to determine whether
honeydew secretions offer more energy than plant nectars to their insect visitors a study
of wild-caught black flies was undertaken in Algonquin Provincial Park, Canada during
the spring of 1 998 and 1 999. It was hypothesized that female black flies maintained on
honeydew sugars will survive longer, produce more eggs and have a greater parasite
vectoring potential than those maintained on artificial nectar or distilled water. Results
demonstrated that: (1) host-seeking female Prosimulimfuscum/mixtum and Simulium
venustum maintained on artificial honeydew did not survive longer than those maintained
on artificial nectar when fed ad libitum; (2) fiiUy engorged S. venustum and Simulium
rugglesi maintained on artificial honeydew did not produce more eggs than those
maintained on artificial nectar when fed ad libitum; and (3) S. rugglesi did not have a
greater vectoring potential of Leucocytozoon simondi when maintained on artificial
honeydew as opposed to artificial nectar when fed ad libitum. However, all flies
maintained on the two sugars (artificial honeydew and artificial nectar) survived longer,
produce more eggs and had greater vectoring potential than those maintained on distilled
water alone.
