Bacterial Communities Associated with Larval Development of Stable Flies (Diptera: Muscidae).

Adult stable flies are hematophagous parasites that preferentially feed on cattle.  Persistent attacks and painful bites of the adults contribute to an economic impact of ~$2 billion/yr on the US cattle industry.  Although stable flies are important livestock pests, relatively little is known about their life cycle, especially larval development.  Larvae develop in diverse substrates that typically include fermenting vegetation (i.e., crop residue and silage) and manure (animal bedding and bale feeder residue).  While microorganisms are known to be essential for stable fly larval development, their community structure and functional roles have not been elucidated. We used microbial community sequencing to characterize the bacteria and fungi associated with larval development in a mixed hay-manure substrate from calf bedding as well as colony rearing media consisting of wheat bran, fish meal, wood chips, and water.Although results must be interpreted with caution due to small sample size, they indicate that the larvae-associated bacterial communities are distinct from the bacterial communities in the substrates in which they grow, suggesting host influence on larvae microbiota.  Once characterized, it may be possible to use microbial communities as indicators for quality of larval developmental substrates and manipulation of those communities may offer tools for the management of stable fly developmental sites.