0746 Association of stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (Diptera: Muscidae), with West Nile virus-infected American white pelicans in Montana

Tuesday, November 18, 2008: 9:17 AM
Room A2, First Floor (Reno-Sparks Convention Center)
Gregory Johnson , Department of Animal and Range Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
Nicholas Panella , Arbovirus Diseases Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO, CO
Nicholas Komar , Arbovirus Diseases Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO, CO
During a WNV epizootic in an American white pelican colony in 2007 in Montana, the biting stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, was observed attacking healthy and WNV-symptomatic pelicans. These observations were unusual because the stable fly, an obligate blood feeder and a serious pest of domestic livestock, humans and companion animals, has rarely been reported to attack or successfully feed on domestic or wild birds. This close association of a non-culicine hematophagous insect with a WNV-susceptible communal nesting bird provided an opportunity to document feeding on a non-mammalian host, describe the feeding damage on moribund pelicans and investigate their potential involvement in WNV transmission.

doi: 10.1603/ICE.2016.35842