Advances in cow dung ecology: international aspects of the Australian bush fly research programme

Intensive research carried out over the last 20 years on the biology and control of the Australian bush fly, Musca vetustisima, a widespread and irritating pest of man in that region, has provided a wealth of information about the community relationships of fauna in the cow dung pats which provide the breeding habitat of the fly. The extension of this project to South Africa and to Southern Spain in the search for exotic dung beetles or allied controlling agents to deal with both the bush fly and the blood-sucking buffalo fly, Haematobia, has given this programme a wider significance.