House fly (Musca domestica) response to insect honeydew

Filth flies, such as house flies (Musca domestica), are urban and agricultural pests of medical and veterinary importance. They develop in animal and human waste where they are capable of acquiring pathogens. House flies have been implicated as mechanical vectors of food-borne pathogens such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and Shigella. Filth flies pose a food safety risk when moving from animal facilities to nearby human food crops, where the flies may transfer pathogens to these crops. Evidence in the field suggests that house flies are attracted to honeydew produced by plant-feeding insects such as scale and mealybugs. House flies were collected from the field and reared in the laboratory. A two-choice olfactometer was used to examine house fly response to honeydew produced by a variety of insects and collected from field sites across California.  Volatiles associated with attractive honeydew were identified and examined for house fly response.  The identification of volatiles attractive to house flies may be used in the development of new bait technologies for management of house flies.