ABSTRACT
The attraction and sterilization of both sexes, however, would be the most effective tactic. This chapter presents an overview of these techniques and the principles behind them. It focuses particularly on Diptera of medical and veterinary importance and seeks, wherever possible, to give detailed examples of practical control operations in the field. In the case of sterile males, the released individuals compete for matings in the wild population, and the eggs of wild females fertilized by their sperm fail to hatch. Mate location and identification, copulation, insemination and fertilization, external physical and chemical stimuli, and the internal physiological mechanisms that regulate each step present an enormous range of features which are available for disruption or impairment. The range of powerful insecticides now available provides the means of controlling the vast majority of insect pests. The complete reliance on these chemicals brings with it a variety of associated problems.
