The abundance and diversity of Dipteran flies in cattle at UngwarNungu, Lafia Metropolis, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

The insect order Diptera, commonly known as true flies, includes familiar insects such as mosquitoes, blackflies, houseflies, midges, fruit flies, blowflies, and tsetse flies. Dipterous flies are important insects in terms of their impacts on veterinary medicine and agriculture. Therefore, the incidence and population dynamics of different species of dipteran flies, as well as testing the efficiency of Biconical traps in estimating the populations of different species of dipteran flies and behavioral studies within the cattle farm in Ungwar Nungu, Lafia, Nasarawa state, was conducted between August and September 2019. Two cattle farms were sampled for dipteran flies. Adult flies were collected using biconical traps. They were immobilized using ethyl acetate. After sampling, the flies were counted and identified using several taxonomic keys. Of the dipterans collected from Usman's farm and Saleh's farm, 84.2% were haematophagous, while 15.8% were non-haematophagous. There was a very high significant difference (²=56.033, df=1, p<0.0001) in the prevalence of dipteran flies in relation to their mode of feeding. Prevalence of dipterans in relation to the study location records that dipterans were more abundant in Saleh's farm (62.5%) than in Usman's farm (37.5%), which shows a very high significant difference (χ²=231.03, df=6, p<0.0001). Haematopota species were more abundant, followed by Tabanus species. The least encountered dipteran flies were Muscafannia. There was a very high significant difference (²=69.389, df=6, p<0.0001) in the abundance of dipterans in the study area. Hence, there is an urgent need for improved hygiene conditions and proper waste management.