Egg developmental status and the complexity of synthetic kairomones combine to influence attraction behaviour in the blowfly Calliphora vicina

The flight responses of 750 female Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 (Diptera: Calliphoridae) are investigated in a wind tunnel bioassay. The attraction of C. vicina towards dead mice and seven different synthetic lures made from dimethyl trisulphide, mercaptoethanol and O-cresol is compared. Responses towards natural odours and the three-component synthetic kairomones depend on the flies' ovarian egg developmental status. The natural and three-component lures also induce similar age-dependent responses, although the dead mice lure yields a significantly higher attraction. Oriented flight increases with the number of chemicals in the synthetic kairomone; one-, two- and three-compound lures induce 13–25%, 32–43% and 62% attraction, respectively. Responses to one-component lures are not significantly influenced by egg developmental status, whereas blends of two or three components are. Attraction levels increase in a stepwise manner both across egg developmental categories and with the number of compounds. The results suggest that the attractiveness of synthetic kairomones is influenced not only by the blowflies' physiological state, but also by the complexity of the lure.