15 



My ias is . Larvae of H. illucens may cause myiasis in man, particu- 

 larly intestinal myiasis due to accidental ingestion of eggs or larvae 

 (James, 19^7; Greene, 1952; Werner, 1956). 



Predators and parasites . Only one predator of'H. illucens is noted 

 in the literature. Bodkin (1917) found specimens of H. illucens in the 

 nests of Bembecid wasps in British Guiana. 



Wasps in the family Diapriidae are the only ones known to parasi- 

 tize pupae of H. illucens. One species of Diapriid was found by Costa 

 Lima and Guitton in 1 962 , and another, Trichopvia n. sp., by Mitchell 

 et al . in 1974. The latter parasite was reared (Tingle et a!., 1975) 

 and had an average life cycle of 26 days at 26.8 C. An average of 86 

 parasites emerged from each parasitized pupa. Twenty-three per cent 

 of the field-collected pupae of H. illucens were parasitized (Tingle 

 et al., 1975). 



Relationship with Husca domestica (L.) in privies . The presence 

 of larvae of H. illucens and M. domestica in privies is we 1 ' documented 

 in the literature (Howard, 1900; Hewitt, 131^+; Parker, 1918; James, 

 1 9^7; Quarterman et al., 1 9^9 ; Schoof and Siverly, 1954b; Kilpatrick 

 and Bogue, 1956). Further studies of the fly-breeding conditions in 

 privies revealed an apparent antagonistic relationship between the 

 larvae of these two species. When extremely high numbers of H. illucens 

 larvae were found in privies, no larvae of M. domestica were present 

 (Fletcher et al., 1956). Hypothesizing that the larvae of E. illucens 

 may interfere with the development of M. domestica, a laboratory test 

 was performed where various numbers of larvae of both species were 

 grown together and separately in C.S.M.A. standard larval media. 



