Order Diptera (flies, mosquitoes, gnats, midges)
215. CRANE FLIES, many species. Larvae and adults can be preserved in alcohol, or adults can be pinned carefully, although the long slender legs will be easily broken. Adults can also be retained for study in small glycine envelopes or paper triangle.
216. LOVEBUGS, Plecia nearctica Hardy. Adults can be collected with an aerial (butterfly) net in flight or in a container as they rest. They should be mounted on insect pins after they are killed using heat, freezing or with a killing jar. Larvae can be collected from breeding habitat using a sieve to strain them from their substrate. They can be preserved in alcohol.
235. DARKWINGED FUNGUS GNATS, Bradysia species. Yellow sticky cards can be used to attract and trap adult fungus gnats. Potato slices (roughly 1 by 1 by 1/4 to ½ inch pieces) placed on the surface of potting media for four or more hours are attractive to larval stages of fungus gnats.
217. HESSIAN FLY, Mayetiola destructor (Say). Immature stages can be collected by dissecting leaf sheaths and crown areas of injured small grains. Adults are most easily reared from the pupal stages by placing infested crowns in a plastic bag. All stages can be preserved in alcohol.
218. SORGHUM MIDGE, Contarinia sorghicola (Coquillett). Adult stages can be collected by slipping a plastic bag around the flowering sorghum panicle (seed head). Other stages must be dissected from developing seeds under a dissecting microscope. All stages can be stored in alcohol.
219. DRAIN FLIES OR MOTH FLIES, numerous species. Adults can be collected indoors using a jar. They can be killed with heat or freezing and mounted on card points affixed to insect pins. Larvae must be recovered from breeding habitats. They can be killed and preserved in alcohol.
220, 221. MOSQUITOES, Aedes spp., Culex spp. and others. Larvae and pupae can be collected swirling a fine mesh net through standing water. Immature stages can be preserved in alcohol. Adults can be reared or collected in a jar when they occur around hosts and in homes. Special light traps are available to collect mosquitoes called suction traps. Mosquitoes can also be attracted using carbon dioxide or dry ice. They can be killed using heat, freezing or a killing agent and carefully mounted on card points (or minutin pins) mounted on insect pins.
222. BLACK FLIES, BUFFALO OR TURKEY GNATS, Simulium spp. and others. Adults can be collected using a sweep net swung around ones head in areas and at times of the year when adults are active. Larvae and pupae can be found on rocks in the shallow water of waterfalls. All stages can be preserved in alcohol.
223. MIDGES AND “BLOODWORMS”, many species. Larvae and pupae, extracted from bottoms of pools of standing water, should be killed and preserved in alcohol. Adults should be glued to card points mounted on insect pins.
224, 225. HORSE FLIES AND DEER FLIES, Tabanus, Chrysops and others spp. Adult horse and deer flies can be collected by swinging an insect net around one’s head while walking through an infested area, such as along a wooded path, near swampy areas, on the beach or other bodies of water at the right time of the year. Special traps, such as Malaise traps, baited with a source of carbon dioxide (e.g., dry ice) and visually attracting objects (e.g., a black plastic sheet or sphere) are very effective for obtaining large numbers of specimens. Larvae can be collected along water edges by sifting mud and washing plant roots in a screen-bottomed bucket or box.
226, 227. BLACK SOLDIER FLY, Hermetia illucens Linnaeus. Adults can be collected from windows, killed and mounted on insect pins. Larvae should be preserved in alcohol.
228-230. ROBBER FLIES, many species. Adults are best collected in aerial nets. After killing them be freezing, heat or in a jar containing a toxicant, they can be mounted on an insect pin. Larvae should be killed in a preservative fluid (e.g., KAAD) or by boiling and preserved in alcohol.
231. LONG-LEGGED FLIES, Dolichopus spp. and others. Adult flies can be collected with an aerial net from the foliage of garden plants, killed by freezing or using a killing jar, before gluing them onto card points mounted on insect pins.
232, 223. SYRPHID FLIES OR FLOWER FLIES, many species. Hover flies can be collected using an aerial net or sweep net. They can be killed using heat, freezing or jar containing a toxicant and mounted on insect pins. Larvae and pupae can be found by inspecting aphid-infested plants or searching through other suitable habitats (e.g., decaying wood, algal mats). Immature stages should be killed in a preservative fluid (e.g., KAAD) and stored in alcohol.
234, 235. LEAFMINER FLIES, Liriomyza species. Adult leafminer flies are attracted to yellow cards coated with a sticky layer (yellow sticky cards) or can be reared from maturing or pupating maggots collected from infested plants by placing infested leaves in a plastic bag or jar. All stages can be preserved in alcohol or the adult can be glued to a card point mounted on an insect pin.
235. SMALL FRUIT FLIES OR VINEGAR FLIES, Dorsophila spp. Adults can be attracted to any whole or parts of leftover fruit or fermenting liquid placed outdoors in a compost pile or near the garbage. They can be collected in a jar, killed and mounted on a card point on an insect pin, or they can be allowed to breed on the food source. D. melanogaster is also available through scientific supply catalogs. Immature stages should be preserved in alcohol.
236. EYE GNATS, Hippelates spp. and others. Adult females can be collected with a fine-mesh aerial net by swinging it around ones head while walking through infested areas. After killing flies by freezing or in a jar containing a killing agent (i.e. ethyl acetate), they can be glued to card points mounted on insect pins. They can also be preserved in alcohol.
SEEDCORN MAGGOT, Delia (=Hylemya) platura (Meigen). Immature stages can be dissected from infested plants or decomposing organic (plant) matter in the soil. They can be preserved in alcohol. Adults can be reared from pupae, killed and glued to card points mounted on insect pins.
237, 238. HOUSE FLY, Musca domestica Linnaeus. House flies can be reared easily by providing a food source (e.g., moist dog food, cow pie) to attract egg-laying females. Immature stages can be boiled or killed in a fluid (e.g., KAAD) and preserved in alcohol. Otherwise, adults can be collected in and around barns and other structures with a net or jar. They can be killed with heat, freezing or killing fluid (i.e., ethyl acetate) and mounted on insect pins.
239. BLOW FLIES, Calliphora and Phaenicia species. These flies can easily be attracted to any type of fresh meat or road kill left in the field or in a container. Adults will be attracted and will lay eggs on the food source and maggots will be common until they pupate in the soil. Adults can be obtained by collecting pupae and allowing them to emerge. Adult flies should be mounted on insect pins and immature stages should be killed and preserved in alcohol.
SCREWWORM, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel). This species no longer occurs in Texas. They still occur south of Mexico where the eradication program continues to be active.
241. HORSE BOT FLY, Gasterophilis intestinalis (De Geer)
242. COMMON CATTLE GRUB, Hypoderma lineatum (de Villers)
243, 244. PARASITIC FLIES, many species. Adult flies can be collected while they visit flowers using an insect or sweep net. Immature stages are only obtained by collecting parasitized host insects and keeping them until the parasitic larvae emerge. Easily-collected stink bug (Hemiptera) species in rice or soybean fields can be a good source for some tachinid fly parasites. Adult flies should be killed and mounted on insect pins. Immature stages can be killed and preserved in alcohol.