Time-activity budget of adult screwworm behavior (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

A time-activity budget of adult screwworm behavior was determined in an outdoor screened enclosure. Screwworms spent most (75.7%) of their time in the passive behaviors of resting and grooming. The adults spent 9.5% of daytime activity feeding, mainly on flowers or nectaries, but also on animal wound fluids and feces. Adults moving in vegetation preferred walking over flying in both frequency and duration. Flying was a frequent activity, but flights were of short (13.7 s) duration. Courtship, mating, and oviposition constituted less than 1% of a fly's total activity. The unusual behavior characterized as "bubbling" was interpreted as either thermoregulation or a nectar concentration.