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The question of whether the insect repellent N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) affected fly attraction, oviposition, and larval development was investigated; in part, to determine whether the common habit of wearing DEET as a repellent could affect the rate of human decomposition. Experiments using pig surrogates of human decedents were carried out in a rural environment. Dead piglets were sprayed with DEET, and fly behavior, colonization levels, and maggot development were compared with those in nonsprayed controls. Piglets treated with DEET experienced significant delays in fly visitation and oviposition and delayed appearance of each larval instar, as well as reduced total larval numbers (p

The diurnal flight response of the walnut twig beetle, Pityophthorus juglandis Blackman (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), was assessed during two seasonal periods at two sites in northern California. Males and females flew primarily at dusk in response to aggregation pheromone-baited traps during late June/early July, and the percentage of beetles that flew between sunrise and late afternoon was positively correlated with the temperature at 6 AM of that day. Between late August and early November, the diurnal flight pattern was more varied and generally bimodal, though approx. 42 to 55% of the beetles still flew during the dusk period. During either period of the season, there was very little evidence that any flight occurred during the night. Between late August and late September, diurnal flight of both sexes during two-hour intervals was associated with temperature in a Gaussian manner with a threshold at 17–18 °C (62.6–64.4 °F) and peak activity at 23–24 °C (73.4–75.2 °F). The proportion of females i...