114 



dorsal borders of the oral bars articulate with two additional sclerites 

 that join anterior to the tips of the lateral hooks to form the anterior 

 r i bbon (A. R. ) • Beneath each oral bar is a row of cutaneous teeth(C.T.), 

 but only one row is visible in Figure 25- 



The longitudinal ridges in the basal sclerites of both species are 

 indicative of saprophagous behavior and the accessory oral sclerites and 

 unequal lateral hooks of 0. aenesoens are indicative of predaceous 

 behavior (Keilin and Tate, 1930). The combination of characteristics, 

 i.e. the longitudinal ridges and the oral sclerites, indicates that 

 larvae of 0. aenesoens can live either in a saprophagous manner or they 

 can be carnivorous. 

 Competition Studies with Eermetia -illucens 



Competition studies were performed in the laboratory to gain know- 

 ledge of interactions that could occur in the field if the habitats of 

 H. illucens and those of three other flies, M. domestioa, 0. aenesoens, 

 and S. robusta, overlapped. Experimental designs and larval diets are 

 shown in Tables 15 and 16. Larvae were grown in 360-ml plastic cups 

 containing 200 ml of diet. Each cup represented a replication, and 

 each treatment was replicated four times. Treatments consisting of only 

 one species of fly were used as controls. After larvae or eggs were 

 added, cups were covered with screen and placed in the growth chamber. 



Trials were terminated when adults of M. domest-ica, 0. aeyiesoens, 

 and S. robusta emerged in their respective control groups. Viable larvae 

 of E. -illucens were counted when experiments ended. Since the soldier 

 fly larvae tended to stay at the bottom of the cups, they were easily 

 located. The remaining medium was floated to separate adults from 

 pupae of the competing fly species when applicable. 



