After rearing male and female Delia antiqua adults, remove the other position device from the cage. Pour the sand and garlic clove into a 500 milliliter beaker. Using tap water, flush the remaining eggs from the garlic into the beaker.
Moisten a 100 meshed sieve with tap water, and pour the water containing floating eggs from the beaker into the sieve. Once the eggs are dried, use a brush to gently sweep them into a Petri dish. Place the collected eggs onto a sterile cell sieve.
Prepare two Petri dishes, one with 30 milliliters of 0.26%sodium hypochlorite, and another with 30 milliliters of 75%ethanol. Soak the cell sieve with eggs in the sodium hypochlorite solution for 0.5 minutes. Then transfer it to the ethanol for another 0.5 minutes.
Using a pair of sterile scissors, cut the tip of a one milliliter pipette. Then using the cut end tip pipette, transfer the eggs from the ethanol to a 50 milliliter tube containing dyads. After removing the excess ethanol from the tube, close the lid and place the tube in a self-sealing bag.
Place a cotton piece at the opening of the bag for air circulation, and place the bag in a 25 degree Celsius incubator. The complete life stages of axenic D.antiqua comprise eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults. No significant difference in developmental time between axenically reared and normally reared Delia antiqua was observed.
