Dr. Murai Éva szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 20. (Budapest, 1987)
Scanning electron microscopy of the mouthparts of Musca autumnalis, Musca domestica and Musca osiris (Diptera: Muscidae) Dr. Ferenc K0VÁCS-SZ. Veterinary Medical Research Institnte, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary "Scanning electron microscopy of the mouthparts of Musca autumnalis, Musca domestica and Musca osiris (Diptera, Muscidae." - Kovács-Sz., F. - Parasit. hung., 20: 91-98. 1987. ABSTRACT. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) observations on the mouthparts of three species of muscoid flies ( Musca autumnalis, M. domestica, M. osiris) are described in order to draw attention to those structures which are able to injure the surfaces they sucked from, particularly the non-hornified epithelia of the host animals. The morphological data (toughness of chitinization, shape, length, position and sharpness of labrum and hypopharynx and those of the prestomal teeth) show that all these structures would be able to cut through almost all the layers of the different epithelia. However, a functional study of these structures (on living tissues) has proved that the microlesions were caused by the prestomal teeth and the pseudotracheal rows only; no harmful effect of the labrum and the hypopharynx could be detected. On the basis of earlier SEM morphological studies pseudotracheal rows had not been considered to have the ability to cause mechanical lesions; because of their small size, but it was found that their considerable rubbing effect cause harm to the epithelia. The features of the prestomal teeth of the three Musca species are also described from a taxonomic point of view. KEY WORDS: Musca autumnalis , M. domestica , M. osiris , mouthparts, SEM studies, transmission of animal diseases. All these three muscoid species are secretophagous as regards their feeding strategy , which is also reflected in the similar structures of their mouthparts. Mouthpart structures and their life-habits closely connected with animal husbandry, determine by and large their economic importance. This is a morphological study to describe those features of the mouthparts of the three species of Musca, which enable those flies to injure the surfaces of animal epithelia, resulting in opening gates for pathogens. A mere list of the names of pathogenic organisms spread by the Musca species covers 67 printed pages in GREENBERG's (1973) review. The morphology of the proboscis of the secretophagous flies was analysed by GREENBERG (1973) and McALPINE (1981), a more functional version is involved in WEST'S (1951) book; these books and other works not mentioned here concluded from the morphological observations to the details of the movement of proboscis but without a functional verification of the movements of the mouthparts. GRAHAM-SMITH's (1930) light microscopic observations on the elements of the mouthparts of Calliphora erythrocephala and on their print on agar plates were a basis for all the later morphological descriptions.
