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Meat infested with horst larvae arrests parasitoids with the same high efficiency throughout the stages of larval development. Meat without hosts arrests parasitoids only for that short period when it is suitable for oviposition by the flies. Host preference was maximal at the middle of the 3rd instar, when under natural conditions the host larvae normally leave their food substrate. Host suitability was maximal at 1st-2nd instars and at the end of the 3rd instar. Therefore, in A. manducator more suitable host instars are parasitized with lower probability
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Reznik et al. (1992) studied this question.
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