Lycoriella mali Fitch (Diptera; Sciaridae) infests mushrooms crops at the earliest possible opportunity in the crop cycle. Recent observations in mushroom houses have indicated a difference in emergence time and size of adult L. mali developing on the brown and white strains of Agaricus mushrooms. The aim of this research was to determine whether different mushroom hosts effect L. mali lifecycle, survivorship and weight. Flies were collected from isolated mushroom houses and reared on different strains and species of Agaricus and Pleurotus mushrooms. Flies were reared for two generations on each host mushroom mycelium. Results suggest survivorship was better and developmental time was shorter for those reared on a commercial strain of white Agaricus bisporus mycelium. Those reared on P. citrinopilieatus, the yellow oyster had the longest developmental time and the poorest survivorship. We also sampled populations of adult flies from isolated mushroom houses growing portabellas (brown strain), oysters (mixed strains) and shiitake (Lentinus edodes). Weight distributions of these populations differed. Those collected from the portabella houses were heaviest while those from shiitake were significantly lighter. Clearly, mushroom hosts can influence developmental time and survivorship of L. mali.
Species 1: Diptera Sciaridae Lycoriella mali
Keywords: Development, Behavior
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