Physiological age determination in female Stomoxys calcitrans Linnaeus (Diptera: Muscidae)

The primary sex organs of female Stomoxys calcitrans consist of a single pair of ovaries, each containing 80-100 polytrophic ovarioles. A natural population of these females can be grouped according to age into different reproductive categories. The technique described below defines these categories and enables one to distinguish between newly-emerged, nulliparous and uniparous females and females that have reproduced twice (biparous) or more (pauciparous).