DOI: 10.5061/dryad.wpzgmsc31
title: GLCave-WHO Cone test mortality data of three filth fly species when exposed to diatomaceous earth

description: WHO cone tests of three species of filth fly against the mechanical
 insecticide diatomaceous earth. Adults of the house fly, Musca domestica,
 the secondary screwworm, Cochliomyia macellaria, and the grey flesh fly,
 Sarcophaga bullata, under low and high humidity were exposed to the
 mechanical insecticide, and mortality was determined.
description: DE, Celite 610, was provided by the manufacturer, Imerys (Imerys
 Filtration Minerals, Inc., Roswell, GA, USA) and was stored in its
 original packaging at room temperature and humidity until needed. A
 modified World Health Organization (WHO) cone test (World Health
 Organization, 2013) was utilized to determine fly mortality. A glass
 funnel was placed, large opening down, into the bottom of a horizontally
 positioned glass Petri dish treated with DE (no DE for the control). The
 funnel had a diameter of 10 cm for the large opening and 1.6 cm for the
 small opening with a height of 12 cm. Flies inside of the cone (described
 later) were prevented from flying into the narrow neck of the funnel by an
 orange stopper held in place with a plastic cap fitted over the outside of
 the small neck of the funnel. The Petri dish inside bottom was 13.8 cm in
 diameter and was treated with 5 g of DE/m<sup>2</sup> (similar
 to the VR treatment level used as a home, residual wall spray in Africa to
 control mosquitoes for six months; Deguenon et al., 2020). One milliliter
 of the DE at 74.8 mg/mL in absolute ethanol (Fisher Scientific
 International, Inc., Hampton, NH, USA) was added to the dish, and the dish
 tilted back and forth to cover the bottom of the dish <em>in
 toto</em>. The control was treated with 1mL of ethanol only. All
 dishes were placed flat on the bench top in a fume hood overnight to allow
 for complete evaporation of the ethanol. Flies were anesthetized with
 carbon dioxide gas at room temperature and pressure for 30 s, and 10 flies
 transferred with soft forceps to each Petri dish bottom after which they
 were covered by the capped funnel as previously described. Funnels and
 dishes were placed into a Percival I-36NL incubator (Percival Scientific,
 Inc, Perry, Iowa, USA) at either 30˚ C and 50% relative humidity or 30˚ C
 and 70% relative humidity, both with a 16:8 L:D cycle. The number of dead
 flies were counted every half hour. Flies were counted as dead when they
 exhibited no movement after light tapping of the funnel with a pencil.
 Three replicates of three cones per replicate with corresponding controls
 were performed each day and repeated on two additional days.
description: # GLCave-WHO Cone test mortality data of three filth fly species when
 exposed to diatomaceous earth Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.wpzgmsc31](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wpzgmsc31) ##
 Description of the data and file structure ### Files and variables ####
 File: G.Cave-DE_Cone_Test_data.xlsx WHO cone test to determine the
 efficacy of the Diatomaceous Earth, Celite 610, against adults of three
 species of filth flies: the house fly, *Musca domestica*, the secondary
 screwworm, *Cochliomyia macellaria*, and the grey flesh fly, *Sarcophaga
 bullata*, under low and high humidity. Each cone contains 10 adult flies
 of mixed sex. Three cones per day were run on separate days, and each day
 was pooled. Data points were taken every half hour, and the experiment was
 ceased when treated flies reached 100% mortality. Data is separated by
 tabs, with each tab holding the data for one species and humidity. Data
 within each tab is sorted by day and cone, and the number of dead flies is
 listed.