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Beetles the answer to fly bother
29 Jan 2008
The WA state government has refused to commit funds to a program to find another dung beetle species that would help to reduce the number of flies between October and January. The state experiences an explosion of flies over summer as beetles stop removing the dung that flies use to breed in. CSIRO entomologist John Feehan says that no "spring active" species has been introduced into Australia so an accumulation of dung promotes the breeding of flies and parasites but also allows high volumes of nutrients to be washed into streams causing high levels of phosphates and algal blooms. Mr Feehan said that if five states each contributed $100,000 over five years a new species could be introduced to fill the gap but currently there are no funds available.
The West Australian, 29/1/2008
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